Fight for Life

I remember it as if it was yesterday.  I was less than a second from inhaling a deep breath under water. I was out of air in my lungs.  The girl on top of me was clawing, digging, punching, and flailing about all the while she held me underwater. Oh, it was not intentional; she was simply trying to keep her own head above water.  Panic swept through my heart; I was going to die! In one split second, I would have to inhale.  I was out of options.  Energy surged through me - I had to get to the surface, now!  I overpowered my friend (that's what I tell myself). I fought to get air. I fought for my life, literally.  If I had not popped to the surface when I did, my family would have mourned my demise more than 30 years ago, and I would not be here sharing this experience with you today.  

You may be scratching your head asking why I share this.  Simply this, I fought for my life with every ounce of energy I could muster, I wanted to live.  

When I consider the all-too-casual approach I often take towards the Scriptures, I wonder where the fight went.  The flesh is just as real a deterrent to my spiritual life and growth as that friend was to my physical life that day. Why do I not overpower it and fight to tarry at my Savior's feet each day?  Why do I acquiesce to the sleepiness, the hunger, the busyness, the phone, the email?   When they interfere with my time with Jesus and His word why do I fail to see them as a threat to my spiritual health in much the same way as I saw the threat my friend posed that day in the pool?  

I may be slow, but I'm beginning to realize I need to fight my flesh with the same tenacity as I did that day 30+ years ago as if my very life depends on it, because it does. My spiritual life.  

How about you?  Do you roll over and hit the snooze?  Do you get distracted by the phone or the news or the washing machine?  Do you wander into your devotional room to realize that you haven't dusted in there for 2 weeks (2 months) and decide it's time to dust rather than sit at Jesus' feet?  What is it that tempts you away? We need to do battle daily with our flesh because it will hold us under water until we either fight for the surface or give up.  Which will you choose?

Diane