When we built the pool, my main requirement was for it to be
large enough that people didn’t have to get out of the way for someone to dive
in. I didn’t want to have to yell,
“Watch out! I’m fixing to dive in!” So the pool is big: half diving pool and half
wading pool. But, I remember well the
day the builder and all the workers came to start building the pool. They staked out the vertices and then took a
can of spray paint and drew out the curves creating the outline of the pool on
the ground. It looked small. Forty-four feet (the second largest pool in
the neighborhood; the only bigger pool is the builder’s) looked small. So I had all the workers, my builder, and Tim
and I stand within the boundaries to try to get a better feel for it. I looked at the builder and said, “I don’t
know, I think it’s too small.” His head
jerked around and he looked at me like I was crazy. So, on faith, I took Tim’s and the builder’s
assurance that it was big enough and that it would look bigger once
construction starts.
They were right. It’s
a big pool. And I’m constantly reminded
of it when I am swimming in those glorious 34,000 gallons of clear blue water. It takes 34,000 gallons of water to fill that
hole. I started to realize that I didn’t
know just how big that hole was until I started digging. And, if I would have filled it with anything
other than water it would not be a swimming pool.
As I dig into myself because I am always under construction,
I often realize the hole is much bigger than I thought. And that is OK. It’s just part of the process of
growing. As I think about holes and
repentance, I know I have to fill the hole in me with God. Today, I read a quote (by Mark Cahill in “One
Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven”) that the Hebrew word for “repent” literally
means to “burn down the house and salt the field.” A salted field is useless. It cannot produce anything. In other words, when you truly repent, there
is nothing to return to. When the pool
was built, the dirt was removed from the ground and hauled off in dump trucks. Once the hole was dug, we didn’t refill it
with the same dirt. We didn’t fill it
with concrete . We
filled it with water. We filled it with
what it was designed to be filled with.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a swimming pool.
I’ve tried filling my hole with other things. All that did is to take me further away from my original
design. So I am working to change and am
learning to fill my hole with the living water. I am loving swimming in the clear blue water.
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and
repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and
will dine with him, and he with Me.”
~ Rev. 3:19-20
