Alive
By: Kristen L. McNulty
If you enjoyed this Impact devotional, the author would love to hear from you. Email her at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
I don't know about you, but sometimes don't you just need a reminder that you're alive? Conquering a fear. Climbing an obstacle. Challenging the system. All of those things can remind us that no matter what is going on, we're still breathing. We're still living. And we still have something left to give.
But think back for a second and ask yourself, when is the last time you felt fully alive? You know the feeling where you are aware of everything. Every gentle push of the breeze. Every bird singing from the trees. Every ray of sunshine streaming down. It's like your senses are on overdrive and that moment stands out from the thousands that pass by without so much as a memory.
The first time I can remember experiencing that feeling happened when I was eight years old. We went on our first big family trip to Florida and I was standing on the oceans edge in Clearwater Beach. I remember thinking that I could have stood there for hours. There was something about the gentle push of the oceans waves and the vastness of the water before me that stopped me in my tracks. In that instance I was aware of everything and I was drinking it all in like it was water to my soul.
Since that day there are very few moments that I can remember feeling that way. And sadly, most of them have occured when I was on vacation in another city, another province or another country. Why is it that we often have to be so far removed from home to feel like we're really living?
As I've thought about it, I've come to realize that its probably because in the ordinary of the everyday and the challenges that life brings, we've allowed our souls to be sucked dry by our circumstances. In the everyday we often miss the miracles of life because we're too consumed to notice. So often it takes bringing ourselves to an unfamiliar place before we can really feel alive. Not because that experience is exclusive to other locations, but because our hearts aren't prepared for life in full everyday.
You see many of us have allowed the wellsprings of life in our hearts to be dried up. We were given life and life to the fullest when we came to know Christ, but unless that supply is replenished, it dries up. And with the absense of living water comes the absense of life. Instead of experiencing moments of total life everyday, our hearts only recognize them when they are so huge that to not notice would mean that our hearts have already stopped beating.
That's not the way Jesus intended us to live. He came to bring us life, life to the fullest. A heart that is so brimming with life that not even the darkest day can quench the miracle found in even the most mundane moment. I don't know about you, but I can use more of that life in my heart. Thankfully, we know exactly where to go for it. It's not found in a country overseas or in some dare-devil moment. Instead it's found at the feet of the One who moved heaven and earth to bring us back to Him. Jesus, what a beautiful saviour He is. Giving us life both here and for all eternity.
This devotional was aired as a part of the Making A Difference Christian Radio Show.