A devotion written for our fellow Walk to Emmaus weekend folks – and for any experience where we have taken that time to get away and have a spirit-filled experience.

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I don’t know about how much you unpacked from camp, about the experience, but I find that so much stuff has gone deep, not ready to surface until later, not all at once.

Unpacking an experience like we had on a 72hour agape-filled walk with Jesus takes a while. Much to unpack, or not. I didn’t even unpack the actual stuff except my dirty life laundry and those clothes too. The rest is still piled on my kitchen chair… Piles of love, agape items, notes and whatnot. I’ve no time to unpack and sort it yet. The rest of the emotional and spiritual stuff is still there piled too. I’ll get to some, the rest…. hmmm….

So much.

I like to think we individually want to REFLECT the experience we have had, from this thought-provoking weekend, like an ability to SHINE it to the world, and imagine us SHINING a “bounce up” of the visual, like from a calm reflection pool in the sunshine. And we do that for sure. And yet, it is not so shiny and smooth on my pond in this world sometimes. Sure the smiling continues inside and out, the songs permeate my brain as I work and walk, people listen to some that I share, but my big chunks of the weekend are still packed deep and have sunk into my pond and my soul, asking to be hydrated by that Living Water, which is seeping, soaking and flooding in, mixing with my whole being. 

It’s alright to let it soak.

We will regather soon, we will reflect and some stuff we will kick out to dry, but mostly we need to remember it is OK to go deep. Sit with it – unpack it as we can – sort it (or not) but hold it and be ready to let some of it go. Treasures are in Heaven – not to burden us here with too much “stuff”, but for now, we unpack slowly. It’s all not buried, lost, but hydrating. It will expand and fill our souls for years to come.

Let us let our experience SOAK in the Spirit… God sees ALL clearly. God will sort it all out for us, in His Time. 

Amen 

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He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:1-3