The words
of this poster picture went straight to my heart, when I was experiencing a
difficult time in my life. The message struck a chord of truth for me. I stopped
to allow the words to permeate deep within my mind. They continued to seep into my
heart and found their way to my soul and spirit. I was able to refocus my
thoughts and my feelings flowed. With
a renewed spirit, I was able to begin moving forward again.
When something
doesn’t seem right in my life or something unexpected happens, it's so easy to focus on my half-filled cup. It's as if something's missing, needs to change, or something's wrong. I begin to wonder
why others appear to have filled cups and I don’t. I’ve tried filling my cup with activities or
relationships that are important to me. Sometimes, I fill it with food or other things I have purchased. I’ve prayed for myself and others, and have written out my conversations with
God, to help me slow down and listen to what I think He would say, if He were next to me. This helps, sometimes, but eventually, my cup continues to
appear half-filled.
If my cup were filled to the top, I think I’d probably
be sloshing it around and spilling it all over, as I live my life, and end up
with a half-filled cup, anyway. Perhaps,
we were created to have cups that are only half-full so the rest of the cup can
be filled with something else – maybe even something invisible! Perhaps, there’s
more to this world than what we can see with our eyes.
I’m
beginning to think we were created to carry the unique parts of ourselves in
our cups – a combination of our physical and mental traits and abilities,
personality, and experiences - and then allow God to fill our cups to
overflowing with His Spirit – a spirit of love, joy, peace, goodness, mercy,
and forgiveness. Perhaps these two unique and different parts were meant to come
together, such that the seen and unseen parts mix and combine, until something
new is created – a new creation! I believe we can welcome the work of God’s
Spirit within ourselves to transform us, through faith-filled decisions, or we
can remain stuck in our old ways of thinking and doing things.
For
now, I will choose to consider the difficult times in my life as “blessings in
disguise” and trust they are part of God’s loving plan for me to grow and
mature. He gives me ample opportunities to make faith-filled choices, again and again,
so I can grow up, little by little, in faith and love and, thereby, witness the
wonderful transformation and blessings He has in store for me.
Sometimes,
it seems painstakingly slow, to watch and wait for the growth to be seen. I
think it’s similar to a farmer or gardener, who prepares the soil of their field
or garden before planting the seeds, knowing and hoping that most of the seeds
will sprout, take root, and grow into something not yet seen. In the same way, I
will trust that God will do His amazing and unseen work in my life, as I allow Him to fill
my cup with His Spirit of love and, as I make decisions that allow His Spirit to take
root, deep within my heart, mind, soul, and spirit. Hopefully, with patience
and faith-filled choices, I will eventually see more and more of the wonderful
fruit of the Spirit that God desires to grow inside of me.
I
hope and pray each of us will experience the peace and blessings of our
cups overflowing with God's amazing love, grace, and wisdom, mixed together
with all that He gives us to carry for His beautiful purposes. May we truly
experience the privilege of witnessing miraculous transformations in our lives,
and in the lives of those around us, as we choose to allow His Spirit to fill
and permeate our cups.
May God bless
you and me, with His amazing love, peace, and Presence, today and always!
Precious
Linda
