This week I am unexpectedly busy with projects, some of which have deadlines. As I prioritized things, I thought I should take a break from blogging this week, which is important to do from time to time. But when I asked the Lord about it, He said, “Who is your source?” As usual, the Lord’s few words contained volumes: Is my source me? My creativity? My brain? Is my source the amount of time or energy I have? Of course not.

Paul asked the Corinthians, “What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7). These are great questions for us. Nothing comes from us yet we boast or feel pressure to produce as if having what we need does depend on us.

Bart Simpson’s mealtime prayer perfectly captures our illusions of self-sufficiency: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves so thanks for nothing.” Sure, we bought our food (which was all produced by someone else) with our own money (paid to us by someone else) that we worked for (because we had health and the breath of life to begin with). This is to say nothing of having a planet that sustains life (which is one of a kind in the entire known galaxy). So, yeah, we are super independent 😉

Jesus said, “You can do nothing without Me.” (John 15:5). Despite this, I often default to Bart Simpson Christianity, which says everything’s up to me. Thank you Holy Spirit for reminding me of my true source every day.