You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
How did the church’s expectations get so small? Maybe not all churches – some do expect that God will move in power among them. But many churches, and many Christians, seem to ask very little of God, as if unsure what they can count on. Just listen to what Jesus said: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Greater works than what Jesus did? He who transformed water into vats of finest wine, who extended a snack into a meal for 5,000, who healed the lame and lepers and gave sight to the blind? He who rose from the dead? It’s not possible. And yet, for a time, after the Spirit came at Pentecost, the apostles did indeed perform just such amazing works in God’s name and power. So what happened?
Well, God still works among us in miraculous ways, despite lukewarm faith or hesitance to ask too much of the Lord, as though God’s power were finite. Perhaps one obstacle comes from what Jesus is quoted as saying next, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” And, in case they didn’t get it, “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
I have asked for things in Jesus’ name that I have not seen come to pass. Good things, holy things – healing and restoration, the gift of faith for those who wanted to believe but didn't. What are we to make of these words? Bad translation? Maybe the writer of John adding things for effect? I say that’s too easy. However this came into our sacred writings, we are invited to deal with it.
In part, that means dealing honestly with our disappointment with God over “unanswered prayers.”* It means opening our spirits to the operation of the Holy Spirit so that more and more we pray for what God already intends – and maybe was waiting for us to be willing to be the conduits for. Praying in Jesus' name means praying in his will, in his Spirit. It means praying Jesus’ prayers.
It is a fine balance to pray with huge faith and boldness and yet release our desires into the mystery of God’s will. We can only do that, I believe, from within an honest relationship with God, trusting in God’s love, even when that is hard to feel. That’s why they call it faith.
Name a “great work” you would like God to accomplish through you. Don’t be timid, don’t be rational – go for broke. Let God know that today in prayer. Ask the Spirit to help refine that prayer in you until you have an inner conviction that you are praying God’s prayer. If we have to say, “If it is your will,” we don’t yet have that conviction. We are invited to keep praying and keep inviting the Spirit to knead that prayer in us until it is ready to rise and become bread.
If we don’t ask, if we don’t step out on the promises of God in faith, we will see mostly small works. Jesus said it; let’s lean on it. The more we pray, in faith, in the Spirit, the more amazing activity of God we will see. Amen! Let it be so!
*We’ll go 5 for 5 with the song links this week… Garth Brooks gets the nod today, if not the prize for theology…
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-30-26 - A Family Likeness
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
We’ve all met children who were the spitting image of one parent – there can be no question whose child they are. That, the scriptures tell us, is how closely Jesus reflected the image of his heavenly Father. Paul wrote, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Col. 1:15)
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus says when Philip pleads, “Lord, show us the Father.” Then Jesus goes on: “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
Jesus' features may have been Semitic, his language Aramaic, his manners and speech shaped by his Galilean upbringing – but his spiritual authority, his healing power, his supernatural intuition, his relational instincts, those revealed his Father’s life in him.
This family likeness extends to those of us who are happy to be called his siblings. As we “put on Christ," as we let his life shine out through us, we grow into his likeness. Or perhaps it’s more precise to say we grow more transparent so that the world sees less of us and more of Christ in us. As Paul writes in his letter to the Galatian Christians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20a)
I don’t have a classic pop song today, but here’s a link to Disappear, by Bebo Norman, a song about getting out of the way so that God’s life shines through us. "And you become clear as I disappear,” he sings in the refrain.
We’ve all met children who were the spitting image of one parent – there can be no question whose child they are. That, the scriptures tell us, is how closely Jesus reflected the image of his heavenly Father. Paul wrote, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Col. 1:15)
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus says when Philip pleads, “Lord, show us the Father.” Then Jesus goes on: “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
Jesus' features may have been Semitic, his language Aramaic, his manners and speech shaped by his Galilean upbringing – but his spiritual authority, his healing power, his supernatural intuition, his relational instincts, those revealed his Father’s life in him.
This family likeness extends to those of us who are happy to be called his siblings. As we “put on Christ," as we let his life shine out through us, we grow into his likeness. Or perhaps it’s more precise to say we grow more transparent so that the world sees less of us and more of Christ in us. As Paul writes in his letter to the Galatian Christians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20a)
I don’t have a classic pop song today, but here’s a link to Disappear, by Bebo Norman, a song about getting out of the way so that God’s life shines through us. "And you become clear as I disappear,” he sings in the refrain.
- In whom have you noticed glimpses of God-life? What was it that caught your attention?
- When do you feel you best reflect the love of God to the world?
- When do you feel most in sync with your heavenly nature, the true self you're in the process of uncovering?
We can pray, “Lord, increase your life in me. Increase my capacity to receive your life. Let any willfulness in me that obscures people seeing you be brought into alignment with your will, so that when people see me they see you.”
That prayer takes a lifetime being answered, but we can experience the shift as we pay attention. We are the only way the world will see Christ this side of glory. And when he is visible in us, people notice, and they want more.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
That prayer takes a lifetime being answered, but we can experience the shift as we pay attention. We are the only way the world will see Christ this side of glory. And when he is visible in us, people notice, and they want more.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-29-26 - If You Don't Know Me By Now...
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
“If you don’t know me by now…” Today’s pop tune link goes to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. And that is just what Jesus might have sung when he realized yet again how scarcely his closest friends have really known him, seen him, recognized what was most authentic and true about him: Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"
I believe that human beings have a deep need to be known, perhaps even deeper than our need to be loved. After all, real love presumes knowledge about the one we love, all that is wonderful about them and much that is not. Jesus’ words are poignant: “All this time, and still you do not know me?”
In fairness to the disciples, it must have been very hard to take at face value the things Jesus said about his union with his “father in heaven,” despite witnessing the spiritual power he demonstrated. Surely he’s being metaphorical, symbolic, hyperbolic, they thought… Often we say the same things about this One whose truth we can never fully grasp.
We can never grasp the truth about another until we can “walk a mile in their shoes.” Our sacred story tells us that Jesus came in human flesh to walk a mile in our shoes. How might we walk in his sandals? By letting his Spirit, whom we name Holy, fill us. By truly being His Body in the world. By entering into conversation with him in prayer, reading about him, talking to other people who know him. The same way we seek to get to know anyone.
Today, in prayer, take a bold step. Ask Jesus something you want to know about yourself, or about him. Try to sit in quiet awhile and see if you sense any response – it may not come in words. It may come in an image that you see in your mind, or something around you that catches your eye. It may come later in the day in song lyrics or in an encounter with someone, in a thought or insight. And maybe in words.
And see if Jesus has a question for you.
Our Good News diverges from the song in that it’s never too late to get to know Jesus (a few scary parables notwithstanding). As with any relationship, getting to know him takes an investment of time and vulnerability and desire. Billions of people have found it worthwhile. Meet him for coffee and see where it goes.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
“If you don’t know me by now…” Today’s pop tune link goes to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. And that is just what Jesus might have sung when he realized yet again how scarcely his closest friends have really known him, seen him, recognized what was most authentic and true about him: Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"
I believe that human beings have a deep need to be known, perhaps even deeper than our need to be loved. After all, real love presumes knowledge about the one we love, all that is wonderful about them and much that is not. Jesus’ words are poignant: “All this time, and still you do not know me?”
In fairness to the disciples, it must have been very hard to take at face value the things Jesus said about his union with his “father in heaven,” despite witnessing the spiritual power he demonstrated. Surely he’s being metaphorical, symbolic, hyperbolic, they thought… Often we say the same things about this One whose truth we can never fully grasp.
We can never grasp the truth about another until we can “walk a mile in their shoes.” Our sacred story tells us that Jesus came in human flesh to walk a mile in our shoes. How might we walk in his sandals? By letting his Spirit, whom we name Holy, fill us. By truly being His Body in the world. By entering into conversation with him in prayer, reading about him, talking to other people who know him. The same way we seek to get to know anyone.
Today, in prayer, take a bold step. Ask Jesus something you want to know about yourself, or about him. Try to sit in quiet awhile and see if you sense any response – it may not come in words. It may come in an image that you see in your mind, or something around you that catches your eye. It may come later in the day in song lyrics or in an encounter with someone, in a thought or insight. And maybe in words.
And see if Jesus has a question for you.
Our Good News diverges from the song in that it’s never too late to get to know Jesus (a few scary parables notwithstanding). As with any relationship, getting to know him takes an investment of time and vulnerability and desire. Billions of people have found it worthwhile. Meet him for coffee and see where it goes.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-28-26 - I'll Take You There
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
“I know a place,” sings Mavis Staples,
“Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried;/
Ain't no smilin' faces, lyin' to the races… I’ll take you there.”
“And you know the way to the place where I am going,” says Jesus.
Do we? Do we know how to get to that place where pain and anxiety and injustice are no more, where “sorrow and sighing will flee away?” (Isaiah 51) Thomas surely didn’t: Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
In a relational system like the Christian faith, everything – places, routes, truth, even life – comes down to a person. And not just any person – the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we claim was the humanly embodied Son of God. Beyond following a way, assenting to a truth, living a life, as Christ followers we are invited to know Jesus. Knowing Jesus is the Way to know God most fully. Knowing Jesus brings us into a relationship with Truth. Knowing Jesus allows us to fully live that abundant Life he promised.
Of course, scholars have, do and will argue about how exclusive that next sentence was intended to be. Did Jesus really say “No one comes to the Father except through me," and what did he mean? I choose to focus on what he said after that: “If you know me, you will know my Father also.” Jesus said he was the Way. Best? Only? Fastest? I don’t know. This is the revelation I have received, so this is where I rest. I seek to know the fullness of God by allowing Jesus into my life in relationship, in conversation, in guidance and sensing and love. If I ever know Jesus well enough, I might explore other spiritual ways. Certainly I can appreciate them, but this one is deep enough for me.
If we’ve grown up with the notion that God is very close, like a grand-dad sitting in his rocker, then Jesus’ proclamation might have little power. But if, like his original hearers, you’ve been taught that God is far away and too impossibly holy to be known, then you can understand how radical it was for Jesus to proclaim that one could know God through knowing him.
“I know a place,” sings Mavis Staples,
“Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried;/
Ain't no smilin' faces, lyin' to the races… I’ll take you there.”
“And you know the way to the place where I am going,” says Jesus.
Do we? Do we know how to get to that place where pain and anxiety and injustice are no more, where “sorrow and sighing will flee away?” (Isaiah 51) Thomas surely didn’t: Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
In a relational system like the Christian faith, everything – places, routes, truth, even life – comes down to a person. And not just any person – the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we claim was the humanly embodied Son of God. Beyond following a way, assenting to a truth, living a life, as Christ followers we are invited to know Jesus. Knowing Jesus is the Way to know God most fully. Knowing Jesus brings us into a relationship with Truth. Knowing Jesus allows us to fully live that abundant Life he promised.
Of course, scholars have, do and will argue about how exclusive that next sentence was intended to be. Did Jesus really say “No one comes to the Father except through me," and what did he mean? I choose to focus on what he said after that: “If you know me, you will know my Father also.” Jesus said he was the Way. Best? Only? Fastest? I don’t know. This is the revelation I have received, so this is where I rest. I seek to know the fullness of God by allowing Jesus into my life in relationship, in conversation, in guidance and sensing and love. If I ever know Jesus well enough, I might explore other spiritual ways. Certainly I can appreciate them, but this one is deep enough for me.
If we’ve grown up with the notion that God is very close, like a grand-dad sitting in his rocker, then Jesus’ proclamation might have little power. But if, like his original hearers, you’ve been taught that God is far away and too impossibly holy to be known, then you can understand how radical it was for Jesus to proclaim that one could know God through knowing him.
- How do you know Jesus? Through prayer? Books? Stained glass windows? Movies? Bible study?
- How well do you want to know Jesus?
- Do you want to let him come close, or stay at arm’s length?
If we say to God in prayer, “I’d like to know you more,” I believe the Spirit will begin to reveal God to us. I don’t know in what way – if you offer that prayer, you might want to keep a prayer notebook to write down whatever you experience in coming to know God better.
God wants to be known by us. That is why Jesus came like us – so we could at least recognize him enough to draw near. And when we draw near to him… we find God.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
God wants to be known by us. That is why Jesus came like us – so we could at least recognize him enough to draw near. And when we draw near to him… we find God.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-27-26 - Somewhere
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” says Jesus. “Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
In the musical version of Jesus’ last night with his disciples, maybe he’d break into song:
There’s a place for us; somewhere a place for us. Hold my hand and we’re halfway there;
Hold my hand, and I’ll take you there… Somewhere.*
He is trying to comfort his followers, as they begin to realize he is soon to be taken from them. “There’s a place for us… Hold my hand, and I’ll take you there.”
If only we could believe it when people say they’re coming back for us. If small children could trust that mom’s not disappearing for good, they’d need fewer blankets and bears. If young women could trust that boyfriends really do just “want some space,” there’d be fewer bad love songs. We cannot believe what we cannot conceive – and how could Jesus’ friends conceive a life beyond death, not to mention a place “out there” with him and lots of dwelling places and plenty of room for everyone?
How can we? This passage is often read at funerals. Perhaps it comforts the bereaved to know their loved one has a front-door key waiting on a hook somewhere – though I doubt anyone who’s enjoying Total Love has much use for a postal code. But we like to know where our people are, to imagine them in a place. Maybe we like to imagine ourselves in a place, so we've have taken the Bible's few symbolic hints about heaven and worked them into a city with golden streets and gem-encrusted gates.
I’m not overly concerned about arranging my pied-a-terre in the afterlife. I know I can start living that life where I am now. We can access the heavenly places in all kinds of ways – in worship, in prayer, in a walk on a fine day – anywhere and anytime we feel ourselves connected to Jesus, in the presence and light and love of God.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” says Jesus. “Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
In the musical version of Jesus’ last night with his disciples, maybe he’d break into song:
There’s a place for us; somewhere a place for us. Hold my hand and we’re halfway there;
Hold my hand, and I’ll take you there… Somewhere.*
He is trying to comfort his followers, as they begin to realize he is soon to be taken from them. “There’s a place for us… Hold my hand, and I’ll take you there.”
If only we could believe it when people say they’re coming back for us. If small children could trust that mom’s not disappearing for good, they’d need fewer blankets and bears. If young women could trust that boyfriends really do just “want some space,” there’d be fewer bad love songs. We cannot believe what we cannot conceive – and how could Jesus’ friends conceive a life beyond death, not to mention a place “out there” with him and lots of dwelling places and plenty of room for everyone?
How can we? This passage is often read at funerals. Perhaps it comforts the bereaved to know their loved one has a front-door key waiting on a hook somewhere – though I doubt anyone who’s enjoying Total Love has much use for a postal code. But we like to know where our people are, to imagine them in a place. Maybe we like to imagine ourselves in a place, so we've have taken the Bible's few symbolic hints about heaven and worked them into a city with golden streets and gem-encrusted gates.
I’m not overly concerned about arranging my pied-a-terre in the afterlife. I know I can start living that life where I am now. We can access the heavenly places in all kinds of ways – in worship, in prayer, in a walk on a fine day – anywhere and anytime we feel ourselves connected to Jesus, in the presence and light and love of God.
- What is your view of the afterlife – your afterlife?
- Where and how do you best find yourself in touch with God in the here and now?
- Is that anything like the heaven you imagine?
Maybe in prayer today you can ask the Spirit to make you aware of the Somewhere God intends for you to dwell in. We are invited to live already as though we know that place, that Somewhere, where Jesus is, where God is. When we live out of that conviction, we bring it into being in the here and now. Forgiveness and love and giving our stuff away to people who need it become a lot more natural – we’re living the life of heaven. Now.
Somewhere. We'll find a new way of living/
We'll find a way of forgiving …Somewhere …
Somewhere is here, my friends. Some time is already.
*I’m reminded of a lot of pop songs in this reading… stay tuneful this week!
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Somewhere. We'll find a new way of living/
We'll find a way of forgiving …Somewhere …
Somewhere is here, my friends. Some time is already.
*I’m reminded of a lot of pop songs in this reading… stay tuneful this week!
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-24-26 - The Abundant Community
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's New Testament reading is here.
Abundance can have its drawbacks, I reflect when allergies strike. The spring growth spurt that bedecks streets in pink and purple and green also generates a super-abundance of pollen. When a whole community is living the abundant life, it generates as much growth as the flowers and trees. Jesus calls us to live abundantly, and Sunday’s reading from Acts about the early church gives us a glimpse (perhaps slightly idealized…) of just how beautiful and fruitful abundance can be in community:
Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.
It’s a simple recipe for the good life – and yet most Christ-followers find it impossible to live this way. This is a puzzle, and a shame, for observers outside the faith have pointed out how much more appealing Christianity would be if its followers were more Christ-like. (Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps the most noted, saying, “Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ.” He is said to have continued with something like, “If Christians were more like Christ, all India would be Christian.”)
Yet even that early community didn’t stay focused on mutuality and abundance. Not much later in Acts we read that someone decided to withhold some of the proceeds of a land sale, and lied about it, which was the more community-breaking act. Conflict and scarcity soon raised their ugly heads.
Does that mean we should we abandon this unity and mutual support as an impossible ideal? I hope not. All it takes is one person to recommit to living Jesus’ abundant life. Two is even better. They begin to influence others, who decide to reorder their lives, and on it goes. Sociologists have shown that human behavior is remarkably contagious. Greed, fear, and control are having a pretty good run, don’t you think? Might we regain some ground for love, faith and peace?
If you made the lists yesterday of things and people who steal your good will, peace, confidence, joy; and the people and places that help you gain those gifts, you have a blueprint for action. If you’re in a covenant relationship with someone else, hold each other accountable when the “scarcity thinking” starts to mess with your abundant joy. As our communities commit to live this way, increasing our capacity to trust that resources we need will be there when we need them; learning to stop and shift whenever we start to make a decision based on fear of scarcity – we will grow, in faith, in joy, and even in people.
Abundant life has a generative principle – abundance generates more abundance. That passage from Acts ends with this: “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” If we mourn the scarcity of people in our pews, let’s take on the discipline of abundant living and abundant trusting. Few things are more attractive than someone living at peace and trusting in “enough.”
When all the energy in the tree is focused on pushing out buds, it bursts into flower. And when all the energy in our communities is focused on living into Jesus’ promise of Life in abundance, we’ll burst into flower too. That's nothin' to sneeze at...
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Abundance can have its drawbacks, I reflect when allergies strike. The spring growth spurt that bedecks streets in pink and purple and green also generates a super-abundance of pollen. When a whole community is living the abundant life, it generates as much growth as the flowers and trees. Jesus calls us to live abundantly, and Sunday’s reading from Acts about the early church gives us a glimpse (perhaps slightly idealized…) of just how beautiful and fruitful abundance can be in community:
Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.
It’s a simple recipe for the good life – and yet most Christ-followers find it impossible to live this way. This is a puzzle, and a shame, for observers outside the faith have pointed out how much more appealing Christianity would be if its followers were more Christ-like. (Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps the most noted, saying, “Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ.” He is said to have continued with something like, “If Christians were more like Christ, all India would be Christian.”)
Yet even that early community didn’t stay focused on mutuality and abundance. Not much later in Acts we read that someone decided to withhold some of the proceeds of a land sale, and lied about it, which was the more community-breaking act. Conflict and scarcity soon raised their ugly heads.
Does that mean we should we abandon this unity and mutual support as an impossible ideal? I hope not. All it takes is one person to recommit to living Jesus’ abundant life. Two is even better. They begin to influence others, who decide to reorder their lives, and on it goes. Sociologists have shown that human behavior is remarkably contagious. Greed, fear, and control are having a pretty good run, don’t you think? Might we regain some ground for love, faith and peace?
If you made the lists yesterday of things and people who steal your good will, peace, confidence, joy; and the people and places that help you gain those gifts, you have a blueprint for action. If you’re in a covenant relationship with someone else, hold each other accountable when the “scarcity thinking” starts to mess with your abundant joy. As our communities commit to live this way, increasing our capacity to trust that resources we need will be there when we need them; learning to stop and shift whenever we start to make a decision based on fear of scarcity – we will grow, in faith, in joy, and even in people.
Abundant life has a generative principle – abundance generates more abundance. That passage from Acts ends with this: “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” If we mourn the scarcity of people in our pews, let’s take on the discipline of abundant living and abundant trusting. Few things are more attractive than someone living at peace and trusting in “enough.”
When all the energy in the tree is focused on pushing out buds, it bursts into flower. And when all the energy in our communities is focused on living into Jesus’ promise of Life in abundance, we’ll burst into flower too. That's nothin' to sneeze at...
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
4-23-26 - The Abundant Life
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Want a simple principle to guide life choices? Discern which option leads to more life, and which is likely to drain life away. When energy and time are finite, we need to invest in people and activities we find life-giving and which give life to others, rather than ones which run us down, involve unnecessary criticism or lead to toxic thinking or behavior. It's not always that simple, of course, and might involve some rewiring. Yet that is the kind of transformation the Holy Spirit works as we make room for God’s life in us.
Jesus draws a contrast between life-giving and death-dealing in this week’s passage: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” he says. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
“The thief” might be anything or anyone who stunts our life or brings oppression, be it emotional, political, spiritual, economic, or any other kind. With that brush Jesus was painting the religious leaders, and of course the Roman occupiers. He probably also meant our spiritual adversary, the devil, intent on drawing people away from trusting the love of God. We know what death-dealing looks and feels like.
The abundant life is harder to describe, since life is hard to quantify – but we know it when we’re living it. It consists not so much in an abundance of things or time or even love, as in our awareness of richness, our being tuned to abundance. The abundant life is a balanced life, where we are renewed as we pour ourselves out for others. It is a life of laughter and insight and rich conversations, of wonder and play. It is life that we live here and now, and it does not end with death. That, Jesus says, is why he came – that we might have life, and have it in abundance.
What or who are the “thieves” who steal your good will, peace, confidence, joy? Make a list of all the culprits. It might include people you love; surfacing that can give you incentive to work on those relationships. This exercise is not without complications!
In what places do you find the most life? List those too. Do you get to put enough of your time and energy into those things? Can you find a way to invest more? Any investment advisor will tell us to put our resources into things with a good yield, what Jesus called “fruitfulness.” Are we investing wisely our time and gifts and love?
When our hearts are tuned to abundance, we find feasts large and small. We make feasts for others at the drop of a hat. We trust that resources will be there when needed, and usually find they are. We move with the wind of the Spirit in our sails, and when we’re becalmed, we rest in it. We feel our feelings fully, even the less happy ones. We forgive ourselves and others easily. We love ourselves and others.
The abundant life is not where I began, and it’s still a place I need guidance to navigate. As the Holy Spirit remakes me, in union with my spirit, I’m learning to dwell there more and more. I hope you are too.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Want a simple principle to guide life choices? Discern which option leads to more life, and which is likely to drain life away. When energy and time are finite, we need to invest in people and activities we find life-giving and which give life to others, rather than ones which run us down, involve unnecessary criticism or lead to toxic thinking or behavior. It's not always that simple, of course, and might involve some rewiring. Yet that is the kind of transformation the Holy Spirit works as we make room for God’s life in us.
Jesus draws a contrast between life-giving and death-dealing in this week’s passage: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” he says. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
“The thief” might be anything or anyone who stunts our life or brings oppression, be it emotional, political, spiritual, economic, or any other kind. With that brush Jesus was painting the religious leaders, and of course the Roman occupiers. He probably also meant our spiritual adversary, the devil, intent on drawing people away from trusting the love of God. We know what death-dealing looks and feels like.
The abundant life is harder to describe, since life is hard to quantify – but we know it when we’re living it. It consists not so much in an abundance of things or time or even love, as in our awareness of richness, our being tuned to abundance. The abundant life is a balanced life, where we are renewed as we pour ourselves out for others. It is a life of laughter and insight and rich conversations, of wonder and play. It is life that we live here and now, and it does not end with death. That, Jesus says, is why he came – that we might have life, and have it in abundance.
What or who are the “thieves” who steal your good will, peace, confidence, joy? Make a list of all the culprits. It might include people you love; surfacing that can give you incentive to work on those relationships. This exercise is not without complications!
In what places do you find the most life? List those too. Do you get to put enough of your time and energy into those things? Can you find a way to invest more? Any investment advisor will tell us to put our resources into things with a good yield, what Jesus called “fruitfulness.” Are we investing wisely our time and gifts and love?
When our hearts are tuned to abundance, we find feasts large and small. We make feasts for others at the drop of a hat. We trust that resources will be there when needed, and usually find they are. We move with the wind of the Spirit in our sails, and when we’re becalmed, we rest in it. We feel our feelings fully, even the less happy ones. We forgive ourselves and others easily. We love ourselves and others.
The abundant life is not where I began, and it’s still a place I need guidance to navigate. As the Holy Spirit remakes me, in union with my spirit, I’m learning to dwell there more and more. I hope you are too.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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