Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Re-Source

 



Sometimes a word we have repeatedly used thousands of times just suddenly sounds different. In my experience this happens faster in second languages perhaps because you can look at it as an insider. But it can also happen in the mother tongue.


This happened to me as I heard something or read something - actually I do not know. But I do know that there was in a moment of time a thought that crossed my mind about the English word Resource.


And somehow in my mind's eye I saw the word written differently with a dash separating the syllables - Re-source.


Resources are what we all need no matter what we do. In the work of missions it is often a topic. Everyone needs it, and I must confess to a feeling in times of Covid that is is lacking more than normally.


But as this rewriting of the word hit my mind, with a dash, I started to look at it differently.


If we write it Re-source, it implies that it is something that is happening again and not simply a one off experience.


I was reminded of the Bible passage in John 4:35 where it says - Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest.


It is like the economic template of supply and demand. We read here that the demand is great and the only missing part is the “supply”.


But that part of the equation is added from another passage and that happens in this very same chapter just 25 verses earlier - “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.


I found it astonishing that this small thought about a single word, resource / re-source led me into a new discovery. 


We have what we need when the focus return to the source, ie. we re-source.


Seek first [b]His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be [c]provided to you. (Mt 6:33)


So now when I think about what I need and ask for resources, I realize it is my job to do the “re” part and. look to the true source of all we need.


(c) 2021 Brian David Kelley


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