A Dusty Old Cup

     It's pretty to look at.  It sits gathering dust.  Day after day, on the shelf.  Made for a purpose, yet totally useless.
     Unlike that cup, you and I can move ourselves into position to be filled up to overflowing.  Time spent quietly alone with God.  Reading His word.  Praying.  Adoring and worshiping.  These things God uses to pour Himself into our hearts, filling us to the point that He begins to spill out of us into the lives of others.
     The church in America today is full of pretty cups on the shelf.  We come in a wide variety...just like the cups in my cupboard.  Many were gifts.  They are odds and ends - hand-crafted, fine porcelain, large, small, representing holidays and travels, declaring the greatness of coffee or tea, solid, patterned, plastic, glass.  All different.  All ready to be filled.  All useless on the shelf.
     As fun as it is to look at my collection of cups, as sweet as the memories they remind me of, the real pleasure comes when I pour that delicious hot coffee and begin delightedly to drink in the rich flavor and aroma.  I can only imagine that is the way God feels about me.  Pretty to look at, He still gets His greatest pleasure out of my life when I allow Him to pour into me, running over the top, and spilling into the lives of people all around me.
     There is danger in getting off the shelf.  We could be chipped or cracked, possibly shattered.  What if we do not get put back in the same cozy spot?  Life can be hard.  It IS hard.  The days hold chips and bumps for us, too.  Sometimes God moves us - a job change, a new home, loss of a loved-one....
     We cannot stay on the shelf, useless, afraid we will crack.  Our joy comes in living out who God created us to be.  When we allow Him, the Master Potter, to create us as a beautiful vessel ready to be filled and used, we are useful!  Realize this:  The one who takes the  clay and begins to mold it finds great pleasure in that hands-on experience.  Carefully, gently He nudges and shapes, until His creation is ready.  Ready to be have life's color painted onto it.  Ready to be filled, used.  Ready to bring pleasure to all who see and drink from the richness poured into it.
     We cannot bring pleasure to our creator unless we allow Him to use us.  "Fill my cup, Lord.  I lift it up, Lord.  Come and quench this thirsting of my soul."  My encouragement to you today is that you allow God to shape your life, to fill you up, and use you for the glory of His kingdom. 
     But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay; and you are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand.  Isaiah 64:8


Vicki