Category: Christian Allegory

Water Pipes

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

I jerked awake when an emergency alert sounded from my phone.

Dazed, I reached for my phone as I glanced at the clock. Not yet 7 am.

What could require an emergency alert so early in the morning?

I squinted at my phone: “Critical water supply alert.”

Fully awake by now, I sat up to read the details.

A major water pipe break was affecting my city’s ability to provide water. The alert instructed everyone to cut back water use wherever possible.

Definitely an unexpected shock in a city where an abundance of clean drinking water is taken for granted. Our rivers never run dry. Yet suddenly our tap water was about to run out.

Over the following days, the city provided more specific instructions and information.

Outdoor water use was forbidden. Fines were issued. Voluntary indoor water use reduction was urged.

Don’t shower as often. Only run the dishwasher or laundry machine when it’s full. Use “grey water” to water plants. Don’t flush your toilet unless absolutely necessary.

We joined countless neighbours in turning the tap off while rubbing soap on our hands, and trying to use as little water as possible to boil pasta.

We were shaken by the realization that clean drinking water in our taps is a luxury, not guaranteed.

It became a common sight to see various bowls or plastic containers poised under drain spouts to catch rainwater for backyard gardens.

After several weeks, the pipe was repaired and life returned to normal, yet a question remained for me to ponder.

“What pipes do I rely on?”

Where do I find the umph to keep going? What do I turn to for happiness?

Pipes such as good health, friends, family, financial savings, a good job, or a pet, will eventually break, sometimes without warning.

What will I do then?

I am so thankful that I know of a pipe that will never break. It is the pipe that carries Living Water.

May Jesus be my source and my umph to keep going. He will never leave me nor forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5b-6)

Here’s a song that reminds me to ground my life in Jesus.

Build My Life by House Fires

Clogged Drains

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

I ignored the flash of lightning and tried to hide my concern about the heavy pattering of rain as I helped my toddler into her pajamas.

My husband headed downstairs to check how the drain in our driveway was doing. He returned with good news. The drain was keeping up with the rain. No sign of flooding.

Cheerfully, my husband proceeded with our toddler’s bedtime routine while I prepared to settle our baby for the night.

Once our toddler was in bed, my husband decided to check the drain again. His return wasn’t so quick this time.

Instead of hearing his footsteps coming, my phone buzzed. He had sent me a video.

It was a 3 second video of water flowing over the doormat just outside our door.

That’s not good!

My phone buzzed again.

This time it was a photo of water beginning to seep under our garage door.

I hurried to finish putting the baby down.

Before I finished, my husband came in.

“I pulled the drain cover off. It’s working now.” He crossed the room.

“Good!” I replied.

“The next door neighbours opened their door at the same time,” he continued. “They swept off their drain. It’s working now as well.”

He reached for his flashlight.

“The main drain on the street is backing up. If it doesn’t get moving, it’ll flood soon and then our drain won’t be able to keep up.”

“Uh oh.”

“I’m going back out.”

“Okay. I’ll come too.”

By the time I got downstairs (baby monitor in hand), my husband had pulled on rubber boots and a raincoat and was heading outside with a broom.

I followed suit.

When I got outside, I spotted my husband standing some distance away on another neighbour’s driveway. The lightning had moved on, but the rain still poured down.

I glanced at our drain. It was keeping up, but the water on the road was nearing the brink. Soon it might overflow to our little drain. Then what?

I watched my husband gesturing. Evidently he could see the neighbour through the window.

From where I stood, I could see why this neighbour hadn’t opened their door. A lake of water, deeper than their doorstep, pressed against their door.

Something must be wrong with their drain.

Spotting me, my husband came over.

“He already has his drain cover off, but it’s still not working. He’s mopping inside his door.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Not really since his drain isn’t working.”

Gesturing toward the growing pond on the road, my husband continued.

“I tried to get the main drain going. I stuck the broom handle down as far as it could reach, but there was nothing. The jam must be further down, or the volume of water is simply too much for the drainage system. If it gets much higher, we’ll be in trouble.”

Just then, a car drove by. The wave it caused in the pool crested over the edge of our driveway and down towards our drain. Thankfully it was a small wave.

We spotted yet another neighbour staring at his driveway drain from a distance. We walked over.

Evidently he’d used the door on the other side of his house to get out. The pool on his driveway was several inches up his front door and his garage door.

My husband offered to try to help.

The man shrugged. “You can try, but I don’t think anything will help. I have an inch of water in my garage already.”

My husband poked at the drain with the broom handle to no avail.

We stood chatting with the man as we helplessly watched the pool of water.

Eventually we noticed that the water line was receding slowly, very slowly.

I glanced back at the road. That puddle, too, was draining away.

Our property had weathered the storm sufficiently, unlike some of our neighbours who now had to deal with clean up and repairs. The question on our minds was “How can we prepare now to make sure our home isn’t the one flooding next time.”

It wasn’t until nearly a week later, as I was praying about which allegory to write, that I noticed the lesson for me.

When I think of the rain as all the wear and tear of life, and the drain as my ability to pass those burdens to the Lord, the story holds a significant reminder.

God has invited me to cast all my cares upon Him. No, that’s not the right way to put it. “Invited” is too soft a word for it. I am instructed to cast my cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).

Am I casting my cares upon the Lord?

In the light rain shower of day-to-day life, only a small amount of water reaches my drain. If my drain (my ability to cast my cares upon Jesus) is slow, but existent, I can handle the small day-to-day trials without getting backed up or overwhelmed.

Even if my drain were totally clogged, the small puddle would dry up when the sun comes out and no one would know the difference.

The real test comes when a storm hits. Can my drain handle the huge volume of rain that gushes towards it? Or does a lake form, seeping into my home and thus causing damage.

In such a situation, sandbags could temporarily help. I could protect myself from water damage, but sandbags would also block the use of my door. I’d be cutting myself off from the good as well as the harm.

Indeed, even two weeks after the aforementioned storm, as I walked by my neighbour’s house, I noticed sandbags piled against her door. This rendered the door impassable, though the day was warm and sunny.

I don’t want to rely on sandbags to hold the water out. I want my drain to work so that I can give my burdens to Jesus.

Is there anything I can do now to help prepare for the storms of life that will undoubtedly come?

Yes.

For our driveway drain, keeping the area swept clean from debris – pinecones, flower petals, leaves, and so on – helps keep it from clogging.

Perhaps this symbolizes keeping my life free from sin (no matter how seemingly small) and grounded in the truth of God’s Word.

Sharing times of fellowship with other Christians certainly helps as well. We hadn’t known that we ought to sweep our driveway or that our drain cover could be removed until we observed a neighbour tending to his drain.

Sometimes, however, there is a deep underlying problem in my ability to cast my cares upon Jesus. In such cases, seeking help from a pastor, Christian counsellor, or other mature Christian may be needed.

This parallels the situation for my neighbours whose driveways flooded. A couple of days after the storm, I spotted a plumber assessing their clogged drains. Their clog was too big for them to fix on their own.

Oh, that I may learn to keep my drain functioning well so that when the storm comes, I may say with David:

“The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart celebrates,

and I give thanks to Him with my song.”

Psalm 28:7 CSB

 

 

If you would like a real-life example of what this looks like, I highly recommend the book: “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret” by Dr. Howard Taylor and Geraldine Taylor. It is available as a paperback, an audiobook, or on Kindle.

Water Displacement

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

Having used the toilet, I pulled the lever to flush, but nothing happened. There was no tension on the lever.

I frowned. Something was evidently wrong with the toilet. Not a fun problem, and in a house we’d only recently moved into.

With a sigh, I closed the toilet seat lid and lifted the top off the tank.

I peered in, frowned, then looked again. Something was in the toilet tank.

What was a small plastic jug doing in the toilet tank?

I looked closer at the plastic jug, its lid barely above the water line. It looked like a familiar shape.

Hesitantly, I reached into the cold water and pulled out… apple cider vinegar?

Who puts a full jug of apple cider vinegar in their toilet tank? 

Various theories rushed through my mind – as an author, I can come up with some pretty wild ideas.

Was the previous owner hiding something? Perhaps drugs or something valuable? Did they leave it behind accidentally when they moved?

Yet the container appeared to be still full of apple cider vinegar – likely never opened.

The previous people in this house were respectable and smart. Perhaps there was some other reason? A logical helpful reason rather than something sinister.

I spotted the problem I had originally opened the tank for – a break in the chain causing the failure to flush. Based on the rusted safety pin at the end of the chain, it had broken and been fixed before.

Reaching in, I pulled the chain to complete the flush.

When my husband returned from work, I wasted little time before telling him about the toilet troubles and my discovery.

After taking a look, we decided to check our other similar toilet tank.

Sure enough, it also had something in it but this time it was two standard plastic water bottles filled with sand.

My husband, who is very intelligent, suggested right away that the previous people may have added them to displace some of the water in these large, not-so-water-efficient, toilets.

For those unfamiliar with how this type of toilet functions, here’s a quick toilet 101.

The tank on the back of the toilet sits full of water. When you press the lever to flush, a release valve is opened and all the water rushes into the toilet bowl washing away whatever is there. Once the water has left the tank, the release valve closes allowing the tank to refill with water.

This particular toilet had a large water tank – larger than it needed. Therefore, the previous people had added a jug of apple cider vinegar into the tank to displace some of the water. This allowed the tank to reach “full” without using as much water.

To the untrained eye, the toilet still flushed effectively. However, it was conserving water – a helpful thing for both our city’s water supply and our utility bill.

It wasn’t until a few months later that it occurred to me that this toilet held an important allegory for me to learn from.

Although in the story above, the apple cider vinegar was a good, simple, and inexpensive improvement to the toilet, in my life an apple cider vinegar jug displacing the living water is a bad thing. Let me explain.

Jesus taught the crowds about living water in John 7:37b-39a:

“Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”‘ Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive…” (ESV)

I don’t know about you, but I want this living water in my life and overflowing out of me. I want to be filled with it fully. I don’t want something displacing part of the living water that could otherwise flow through me.

Sure, when there is displacement in my life, it may still appear the same on the outside to the untrained eye, but the power and effectiveness will be decreased.

I want to be fully effective in the ministries God has given me. That is only possible when fully filled with the living water so that it may flow through me.

So, what does the apple cider vinegar jug represent in me? Unless I stop and take a look inside, I’ll never know. I probably won’t even realize there is a jug displacing the living water in me at all!

Rather, I must ask God to reveal this jug to me. Often He does so through prayer, study of the Bible, and fellowship with other Christians.

As I went to write this allegory, I took a moment to pray asking God to reveal my jug of apple cider vinegar. As I did so, I added “but please don’t reveal it to me through trial and hardship.”

That right there was my answer. My love of ease and comfort is the apple cider vinegar jug that is displacing some of the living water in me.

With God’s help, I will be able to remove this jug from my life.

Then it will be time to ask Him if there is another jug displacing the living water within me.

What about you? Will you dare to take a moment to ask God if there is a jug of apple cider vinegar displacing His living water in you?

As David wrote:

“Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the everlasting way.”

(Psalm 139:23-24 CSB)

I Want You Here

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

Roused from my sleep, I rolled over in the darkness. Then I heard it. A whimper from my toddler.

I reached for the baby monitor. Yes, she was awake and rolling around.

I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was 1:34 am.

Pulling myself out of bed, I slipped through the hallway to her bedroom.

She moaned when I opened the door to her room.

“It’s just Mommy,” I murmured as I crouched beside the crib. “You’re having trouble sleeping. Are you too hot or too cold, or do you have an owey?”

“Ow,” she said.

I squinted through the dim light. “Where is your owey?”

She pointed at her mouth. “Right here.”

I nodded. “That makes sense. That’s because you are getting your new teeth. I’ll go get some medicine to make it feel better so you can sleep.”

She fussed a little as I left the room, but I didn’t hear any more complaints as I fetched the teething medicine.

Returning a minute or two later, I encouraged her to sit up. “Here’s the medicine for you to drink. It will make you feel better.”

Groggily she pulled herself upright and sipped the medicine.

When it was gone, she handed the cup back to me.

“Lay down now, and I’ll fix your blanket.”

She did as instructed, but began to cry when I rose to leave.

I dropped back to my knees beside the crib.

“Mommy needs to go back to bed soon, but I can stay and sing a couple of songs with you first. Would that help you feel better?”

We sang Jesus Loves Me, A Prayer for My Child, and Count Slow.

My daughter appeared calm, but was still awake. I suspected she would fall asleep faster if I left.

“It is still nighttime, so Mommy needs to go back to bed. I also have to wash the cup from the medicine, so Mommy needs to go now. I love you. Your mouth will feel better soon so you can sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She cried a little as I left the room, closing the door behind me.

“Mama, stay.”

It was hard on my Mama heart to leave when she wanted me to be there.

By the time I finished washing the cup, she had quieted.

I glanced at the baby monitor. She would be asleep soon.

Gratefully, I crawled back into my own bed.

It wasn’t until later that I noticed the lesson in my daughter’s attitude towards me.

My daughter was having trouble. Her mouth hurt which was keeping her awake.

I gave her the practical help she needed – teething medicine.

Yet that wasn’t the only thing she wanted. Even more than the medicine, she wanted my presence.

Do I want God’s presence? Or do I merely want the practical help He can give me?

When I am having trouble, do I merely request practical help and then go about my day without another thought of God?

Not that it is wrong to ask God for practical help. Indeed, He encourages us to do so. Yet He wants our heart and our devotion.

The Psalmists knew how to yearn for God’s presence. Among other things, they say:

“As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so I long for You, God.

I thirst for God, the living God.” (Psalm 32:1-2 CSB)

Today, may I seek not only practical help from God, but may I seek His very presence. He is worth it.

Move Please!

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

I shuffled through the items on the desk, trying to determine which ones to set aside for longer-term storage and which would be better suited to keep available on the living room shelf.

My toddler puttered around my feet with her toy doll. “I’m helping Emi walk.”

“I see that. Just like how Auntie was helping your cousin walk when we saw them last week.”

I picked up a roll of tape. That should stay readily available. I scanned the shelf and found a spot for it.

“Mama, I’m going there.”

I stepped out of the way so my toddler could walk past.

I reached for a stack of unused notebooks. My current notebook still had space so I wouldn’t need these for a while. I stashed them in a box to be put into storage, then jotted them down on the list of contents on the box.

“Uh oh…”

I glanced down at my toddler. She was trying to move past my big packing box.

Her little voice piped up again, “Move please.”

Normally the space would be empty, but since I was actively working on this box, I didn’t want to move it. Beside the box was a clear space, plenty wide enough for her and her doll to walk through.

“I’m using this box right now, but you can go around it.”

My toddler pushed her shoulder against the box. “Move please!”

“I will move it when I’m done with it.”

“Mama, move please!”

I crouched down beside her and pointed, “Look, there is lots of room to go around the box. You don’t have to be stuck here.”

She started to pout as she pushed against the heavy box again. “Move please!”

I tried to meet her gaze. “Mommy is busy using this box. I will move it when I am done. You can go around it. See, I’ll show you.”

Straightening, I stepped around the box through the clear area.

My toddler pouted and pushed against the box with two hands. “Move please!”

With a sigh, I returned to my organizing. If I couldn’t explain to her that she could go around the box, maybe she would figure it out on her own.

She continued pushing against the box as her frustration mounted. She began to cry.

After a time, I picked her up and walked around the box with her.

“See, you can go around.”

She wasn’t comforted in the least.

I carried her to the couch and picked up a book. Maybe a complete change of activity would help take her mind off that box.

This encounter with my toddler was not the first of its kind, and surely won’t be the last. Her stubborn determination that she must go exactly in the one place she cannot go, is nearly impossible to distract her from. Once she has decided she wants to go somewhere, her mind is set on it.

After multiple such interactions, I began to wonder if I am ever like that.

In my walk with God, are there times that I stubbornly try to go somewhere or do something that He has said no to?

When God closes a door, or says wait, do I push forward anyways?

There are many times in the Bible when God told His people to wait. Sometimes they obeyed, but other times they pushed forward stubbornly and paid the consequences.

I think of Saul and the sacrifice (1 Samuel 13), and the disciples waiting for Pentecost (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1-2). The nation of Israel’s first attempt to enter the Promised Land also comes to mind. At first, they said no when God said go, but then they tried to force their way in when God said no (Deuteronomy 1:19-46).

Can you think of other examples in the Bible?

So what do we do when we find a heavy box where we want to walk? The apostle Paul set a good example for us.

“Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’

Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:8-10 CSB

What did Paul do when he came to an unwanted roadblock? He took the matter straight to God. That is the critical first step.

After praying about it a few times, Paul understood God’s answer to be “no”.

Did Paul throw himself on the floor in a toddler temper tantrum?

No. Paul accepted God’s answer, and turned his attention away from that box onto God. Instead of growing persistently angry, he chose to follow the path God had opened and to live his life for God’s glory rather than Paul’s own desires.

Surely there were days that it felt impossible for Paul to have this attitude of setting his focus on God rather than on his own desires. Thankfully, he didn’t have to do it on his own. God is a God of mercy and a God who willingly helps His children.

Next time I stumble across a box in my path, may I bring it straight to God in prayer. Then, if He says “no” or “wait”, may I move on following His lead and setting my focus on Him so that my life may be for His glory, not my own. And on those days, when I am stuck and it seems impossible, may I cry out to God to help me shift my eyes onto Jesus. God will help me.