Rivers.

Wiring and Rivers.  As I think about our brains, hearts and our emotions, these are the images that come to mind.  I have been studying about depression recently, reading and auditing a course on counseling.  As I study I think about the intended paths of our hard-wiring.  I think about how the amazing chemicals that flow through our system go about their business, the ebb and flow.  I think about how interactions and learning create new paths.  I think about the good paths that are being formed in our brains.  I think about how the wiring, the rivers that flow are supposed to be.  I pause as I think about the gap between what God has intended for our design and what actually comes to be.  The broken parts of us and of this world are only recognizable because within our creation lies the original blueprints for how things are supposed to be.  There are ancient river beds that outline the intended destinations of our wiring.  (I apologize that I cannot really quite separate nor unite these two metaphors, but bare with me as I push through).  We only know how bad things are because there is an echo of how good things are supposed to be.  Injustice only exists because we have a sense of justice.  Evil only exists as a perversion of what was once Good.  God has an intended version of us, in which all the millions of wires and tributaries of hormones, chemicals, emotions and reactions flow in perfect harmony.  It is an unbelievably complicated symphony of beauty and glory.  Of course, this perfection is not our current reality.  All of us experience a perversion of our systems.  Starting from the moment we are born, we are influenced second by second by the world and the people around us.  Indeed, some are born with a genetic disadvantage that hinders their flow.  Things are haywire from the womb.  Inappropriate gushing of chemicals, out of sync connections, crossed wires, flash flood and desperate droughts overwhelm us from the start.  Some enter into this world with horrific circumstances affecting their flow.  Genetic miss firings wreak havoc on their systems.  And heart-breakingly, some are exposed to unthinkable injustice and abuse that in essence drop bombs on the victims river paths.  These events are so destructive that any evidence of the original intended path disappear.  

But there are glimpses of goodness.  We get moments when the river is flowing beautifully within its banks, when the currents surge with remarkable efficiency.  The world seems clearer, sharper, more beautiful than you previously imagined.  And while your fellow humans retain the evidence of their busted banks, you somehow swell up with compassion for them because of it.  Despite all odds, you continue to Love.  

God has given us Love, that we might help to restore his creation.  It is Love the compels us to attend to our damage, to seek the help in repairing our pathways, and once we are able we cannot help but to want to help others.  Our rivers flow together, and our poison flows to our neighbors and our love does as well.  Our circuits are irretrievably intertwined.  If we choose to sever these connections completely, we may avoid the damaging voltage, but we also remove the chance for healing and repair.  As you read this and as I write this I can think of dozens of friends and loved ones who are recovering or reacting to the devastating bombs that have been dropped in their lives.  One way or another, they attempt to make sense of the mess they have been left with.  Hope remains, and Love bids us to enter into the mud.  Medication can help.  Counseling can help.  But more than anything, we have to realize that every interaction we have with each other is affecting the others and our own course.  We are directing each other, for good or for bad.  Some are dealing with the effects of a re-routed river.  A change in course that happened so long ago and that is so far off course that we don't know how to help.  All we can do, is to little by little, help to change the course.  In Love we must gently and consistently be a presence for one another, gradually moving the banks of the river.  If we choose to be in the mess with each other, we must also rely on God's guidance.  We must trust in his direction, not only because he knows best, but because we cannot possibly see what is needed to be seen. We may help, but only God can wash away the damage and make us new.  

 The one who created all, who watched as man betrayed him, still calls us to restore that which we destroyed by our original sin.  That is mercy.  We can struggle and blame and be angry with God for the current condition of the world and of our own hearts, but we must do so realizing that it is his Love and Mercy that allow us to exist to even consider that struggle.  And so we dive in to love one another, to work towards restoring his creation, to bring others into the fold, so that someday we may all get to rejoice when he makes things right again.  The day when all rivers lead to Jesus.  We ache for the time when all of our energy will flow in the right direction and be eternally powered by his Love and Glory.  

God dwelt with us in perfection.  
         We chose our own desires.
God gave us direction to be saved.
         We chose our own desires.
God pursued his people.
         We chose our own desires.
God came in the Flesh, Died to overcome our choices, and in his Resurrection changed the course of history.
Because of His perfect course, His perfect death and his Life again, he has flooded the circuits of creation. Out of all the meandering tributaries he has forged a new course, one path available for all that call his name. The one whom the winds and waves obey, has come to save you.  
For his Glory and our Joy, let us not choose our own desires, for we have been given a new course.  

Genesis 2

8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

Ezekiel 47

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[b] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

John 7

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”