09 Mar 2010
by campcommit
in Lessons From Life
In the 23rd Psalm, there is a line, a phrase that I can relate to. “My cup Overflows.” It is one sentence, three words, and yet it is this phrase that has brought me so much comfort lately. I do not know exactly what King David was meant when he penned this phrase. I suppose it may have meant that God would always provide for him; that he would always have plenty. His cup of prosperity would always be overflowing. If that is the case, then what does this mean to those who are impoverished? Surely just because they are a child of God doesn’t mean they will be filled with material prosperity such as that of a king. What then did David mean by “My Cup Overflows?”
I was talking with a dear friend about a struggle I was having with several of my friendships. I do not know if you have ever had this experience, but I sometimes feel as if I am caught up in so many relationships that drain me. When you truly love somebody, it doesn’t matter if they love you back as long as you love them. You just love them anyway, no matter how much it may hurt. This is what I would call a draining relationship. You pour your love into a friend who doesn’t pour love back into you. It is not that they don’t love you, but it may be that they don’t have time for you, or it may be that they simply have other, closer friends. They may be your best friend, but you are not necessarily theirs. It really is a painful situation. I have struggled with relationships like this for a while now, and for a while I have let them drag me down and pull me through the mire. Sometimes, it gets to the point when you want to scream and say, “I can’t deal with this anymore! It hurts too much!” But then, the thought of severing those relationships breaks your heart. I wonder if I am selfish for wanting to cut off a relationship that does not return my love? I thought about it long and hard and I believe I came to a conclusion that I hope will help others as it has helped me.
When I was relating my struggles to this friend, she came up with a nice analogy for my situation. We are all like cups or jars of water. We start out with a full glass, and when we love somebody, we pour some of ourselves into that person. Sometimes, we pour a little bit, other times we pour a lot, and still on other occasions we dump the whole glass right into theirs. Then, at some point in time, we are empty. We have been drained of our gift. We can only love so much, we can only give so much of ourselves to another, without being refilled, before we are drained and left feeling empty and alone. Then, the tears flow, the pain grows, and we don’t what to do. This is when I discovered that loneliness is so very painful. Emptiness in a relationship (or several relationships, as it has been in my case) is so very painful. Is it selfish to not want to feel this hurt? Is it selfish to want to save your love for those who will refill you?
According to Luke 6:27-36, we should love expecting nothing in return! “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
If we are told to give love freely to our enemies who hate us, how can we justify not loving and building relationships with our friends and sisters who love us, just not as much as we love them? I have struggled with this question for a couple of weeks now, and especially the past few days. I was stuck. I came to the realization that I could not severe these draining relationships, but that didn’t change the fact that, in my mind, I was running out of water in my cup. How much longer could I pour myself out before I ran dry?
Then, on the way to dinner one evening, I had an epiphany! I cannot run dry, because my cup is being filled by an Eternal Source. My jar is overflowing with the Love of God my Creator!
Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; MY CUP OVERFLOWS.”
In John Chapter 4, Jesus strikes up a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. He tells her in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” This statement of course, puzzles her, so He clarifies bysaying in verses 13-14, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Maybe this living water is what is overflowing King David’s cup in Psalm 23.
We, as the children of our Heavenly Father, have the wellspring of eternal life in our hearts. Our Cups are overflowing with the living water and we will never run dry! We can and should always pour as much of ourselves as possible into those around us, loving, uplifting, and edifying because God is overflowing our jars and pouring His love out for us. He went as far as giving us His own life. He gave up everything for those who rejected Him. We surely can accomplish fully loving others, sharing with them the Love He is giving us!
In Christ,
Heather McCray
21 Nov 2009
by campcommit
in Lessons From Life
Tags: Driving
I was going the right way. I was following the directions, I promise!
It was Wednesday morning and I was taking my little sister to piano lessons downtown. (Anybody who knows me well knows that this was a bad idea to begin with – let’s just say that driving and I don’t get along very well). Mom’s directions said to turn left on William Street. But there was a problem. William Street is a one-way street, and you can’t turn left onto it. So I turned on another street and made my way back to William. But the piano studio wasn’t there. Thinking I had not gone far enough up William, I circled around and went a little further up before turning onto it again. Still no piano studio. After doing this several times, each time going a little further up the street (don’t ask me why I didn’t start at the top of the street the first time – or the second or fifth time for that matter), we were fairly certain that the directions were wrong.
Though she has been to this building many times, my sister only pays slightly more attention to what goes on outside the car window than I do, and she had no idea where the place was. “Turn here.” “No, go back.” “Um, maybe that was it after all.” There was another problem. I had left my cell phone at home and could not call Mom for clarification.
By some miracle, we found the place on time. I dropped Kenjillen off at the front door and went to find parking, which is next to impossible downtown. Driving around keeping a sharp look out for any parking space (although my parallel parking skills are severely lacking, I was even willing to try for one of those spaces), it was a few minutes before I realized something. I had lost sight of the piano studio and had no idea how to get back to it. I was thoroughly confused about which way I had turned. I had not even looked to see what street it ended up being on! So, for half an hour I drove around and around downtown, passing the same people, hoping nobody noticed the fact that this was like my twentieth lap. I was starting to panic. I mean, what if I couldn’t find the building? Her lesson would be over soon. She had no way of getting hold of me or my mom; she would be scared. I would have to drive all the way home (45 minutes away) and have mom go get her, and my poor little sister would be freaking out. And even if I did find the building, I still wouldn’t be able to find parking.
Finally I decided to just park in the next parking spot I found and look for the building on foot. After walking for awhile I remembered that the building had been across the street from a church with a tall steeple, so all I had to do was look up, right? Sure enough, there was the steeple, and I finally found the building and somehow found it on time. Kenjillen was happy that I had found her – not so happy about the long walk back to the car. At least I remembered where I had parked!
There are so many spiritual applications I could make from this story (and perhaps I’ll expound upon these in some future posts), but one thing that struck me was that without the church steeple, I might never have found the place. The steeple can be seen from almost anywhere downtown, and if I had taken the time to look up in the first place, I would have been back on track a lot sooner.
So often in life we get lost and confused about God’s directions. Sometimes we think we’re on the path He wants us to take, and it turns out that we are way off. But if we take the time to look to God, and stop thinking that we can find our way on our own, it’s a lot easier to get back on track.
Just like the steeple can be seen from anywhere downtown, no matter where we are in our life, we can always find God. When we catch sight of Him, we might discover that we have strayed really far away, but He is always there to guide us back. We just have to keep our eyes on Him. May we all be able to say, “I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise. I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes.” Psalm 119:58-59
All For His Glory, Miss Brittany N.
Oh, and by the way, the building was on Charles Street, just in case any of you are ever in downtown Fredericksburg looking for the piano studio :) Am I the only one who is that bad at driving? Any of you ever had these kinds of experiences?
