A Thought For The Week Of January 18, 2016

"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light." (Psalm 36:9) When I read these words, my mind immediately jumped back to the three baptisms I conducted this past Sunday, and to the many baptisms I've conducted over the years. I was especially taken with the image of God as a "fountain of life." When I think of fountains, many different things come into my head. There are very gentle fountains that don't do much more than fill a pool that then overflows, with the water then being recycled and the whole process starting again. Then there are the more powerful fountains that literally shoot jets of water up into the air - but, of course, once again it falls back into some sort of pool when gravity takes over and - again - the water is recycled and the process starts all over again. The more I think of it, the more I realize that this may not be a bad analogy for God. Sometimes God is very gentle with us, just gradually brimming over. Other times, God soars into the skies above us - a symbol of power, commanding our attention. Either way, God is there as a fountain of life, the Bible says. And as often as we may try to push God away, just like the water of a fountain God cannot be stopped. Rather, God continues to reach out to us, over and over again, until we finally draw near and take a closer look.