What Are You Leaking?

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This might sound like a strange question to ask but consider this: whatever we are full of will be what leaks from the deepest recesses of our being whether we intend that or not.

One obvious way we see this is when we are overly tired or stressed. No matter what our faith or desire may be to emulate, most of us will leak lots of evidence of that exhaustion. Our words will be sharper, and our tone will often reflect frustration. We will listen less well even if we don’t want that to happen. We will be eager to get away from everyone and everything to find some level of relief even if that simply means falling into bed.

It happens to all of us.

But there are other things that seep out of us that may be harder to recognize unless we determine to observe ourselves objectively. If we are full of bitterness, envy, jealousy, lust, selfishness, greed, anger, or resentment, those will leak in our responses to life and those in it. We may very well try to hide such things in the recesses of our hearts, but we are never as skilled as we think in doing so.

Those less nice things, those sins, that we have left unattended within our hearts lead to a feeling of emptiness and we go to great lengths to try to fill that emptiness. We may use any number of things including but not limited to alcohol, cigarettes, food, spending (also known as retail therapy), sleeping, TV, movies, music, gambling, or even excessive exercise. We want to evade and avoid what seems to be devouring us. But we won’t stop there.

We also will try to use others to try to fill us up. Ruth Haley Barton puts it this way:

“When we are not finding ourselves loved by God in solitude, in the company of others we are always on the prowl for ways they can fill our emptiness. We enter life in community trying to grab and grasp from others what only God can give.”

Ruth Haley Barton in Invitation to Solitude and Silence

What we most need is for those persons we seek out to lovingly point us to the only Source that can deal with both the ugly things in our unattended heart and the emptiness that comes when our hearts have chilled from bitterness, disappointment, hurt, rejection, and more.

“At times the strength of spiritual community lies in the love of people who refrain from getting caught in the trap of trying to fix everything for us, who pray for us and allow us the pain of our wilderness, our wants, so that we may be more deeply grounded in God.”

Rosemary Dougherty

Those people will need a tenacious grace-filled faith to both nudge us and leave us alone with God even when we protest that we don’t hear Him, or He doesn’t care.

“Solitude, at its most basic and profound level, is simply an opportunity to be ourselves with God.”

Ruth Haley Barton in Invitation to Solitude and Silence

The simple truth is this: when we sit in the presence of the Lord, we are changed. His love overshadows us and washes away the debris within and floods us with Himself. It is then when we have been drenched like dew on grass in the early morning that we are satisfied. And when we leave that place to re-enter our world, we leak His love, His fragrance.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:

“For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which ascends] to God, [discernible both] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;”

2 Corinthians 2:15 (AMP)
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8 thoughts on “What Are You Leaking?

  1. Such a powerful post, Pam! I agree that we definitely leak the things that we hold inside. I hope that I leak love, light, and kindness, but I certainly have times when negativity abounds within me. Those times are difficult in keeping the negativity from seeping out. It always finds it way. When I find that my negativity is leaking out, I tend to retreat from others so I do not contaminate them with it. Thanks for sharing your thought-provoking post!

    Shelbee
    http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com

    1. Shelbee, your self-awareness and insight are always something I enjoy seeing on these comments. I concur with the experience you share here!😊

      Pam

  2. What a great post Pam. At first, I was trying to figure out what you meant by the title and though food and cooking came to mind, your photo showed otherwise. So, as I read, I was intrigued by what you mean and I agree with you wholeheartedly. We have many facets as an individual but only in God’s presence, shall we leak His love. Truth!

    Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com

    1. Thank you, Maureen! Sometimes I choose a title to intrigue others to read farther and look at things they might not have seen or seen in the way the Lord may have shown me. It was a question and theme the Lord dropped in my heart for me and it resonated in a way that I wanted to write and share.💕

  3. I thought that was a strange question Pam but was also intrigued! Lol!
    I love your following statement,
    ‘The simple truth is this: when we sit in the presence of the Lord, we are changed. His love overshadows us and washes away the debris within and floods us with Himself. It is then when we have been drenched like dew on grass in the early morning that we are satisfied. And when we leave that place to re-enter our world, we leak His love, His fragrance.’ Amen!
    Bless you,
    Jennifer

    1. Ah, thanks, Jennifer! I often like to make the title a tease to invite folks to read a bit further.😊 Thanks for your kind words as well!

      Be blessed and well💕

  4. well you had me completely at the first paragraph, Pam.

    ‘whatever we are full of will be what leaks from the deepest recesses of our being whether we intend that or not.’

    it’s always time for a good evaluation, a heart search, a checkup.

    like now.

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