Too Much Of A Good Thing

Linda and I have a seasonal campsite right on a river, about an hour’s drive from our home. Being right on the river, when there is a lot of rain and the river swells, our entire campsite (and half the campground) is sometimes flooded. So when flooding is predicted, we pull our camper out and store it until the water subsides. It doesn’t flood every year, but this year, It’s been flooding on and off with every heavy rain for the past month. Our camper is back in place now, but the effects of too much water is evident all around our site. The ground is soft and muddy. Debris is everywhere and I’ll need to spend a couple of hours cleaning up. All the campfire wood I had stored is soaked.

But that is really minor compared to some of the horrible damage in places down south where floods have destroyed millions of dollars of property, and far worse, taken the lives of some who were caught in flash flooding. 

Water is a necessity of life. Without it, our planet would be sterile. We need water for our existence. But, too much of a good thing becomes bad (Proverbs 25:16).

Which is a major problem for most of us Americans. We have it so good. And yet depression rates in our blessed nation are higher than most third world countries. Anecdotally, the people we know who are the most blessed in life often seem to be the most negative and those with greater emotional struggles. But those who have to work hard just to keep afloat seem to be the happiest.

I wonder if we are so used to being blessed that we no longer pay attention to how good we have it, and instead find disappointment whenever our expectations of further blessing are not met. So with everything we have going for us, we only lament over what is not. Too much blessing has become our curse. And while spoiling our own kids (passing this sad trait to the next generation), we find ourselves reacting to life like spoiled children ourselves. Which is really too bad. Spoiled kids are never happy.

I stopped out at our campsite a few days ago and started to clean up. But I was bogged down in the mud from the receding river, and so as not to destroy the sod, I quit. But then I paused and looked at the river. “Water is a blessing. With it, comes life. And the river is beautiful. Right now we have too much of it, but I’m going to be grateful that we have it at all."

Maybe that’s the pause you need right now. Instead of wolfing down all that he gives you, slow down and taste its goodness.

“Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (Psalms 34:8 NLT).