A TOAST…RAISE YOUR GLASS!!
Why is it that people always see the glass as either half full or as half empty? Are those really the only two options? This line of questioning is often used as a way of labeling the proverbial pessimist or optimist. Well, to all of them I would like to raise a toast and throw my glass up against the wall! Or even better yet, why not take that same glass, which in essence is only a container — an empty vessel until it is filled with something (much like us).
Why not see that glass as the embodiment of all of the experiences that one will accumulate over the course of their life. Jesus was the ultimate vessel. He poured out his own life for us. He let Himself be flooded with the weight of the entire world’s sin in order to give us an opportunity to have a relationship with the maker of the entire universe!
Good or bad, these experiences are what make us all into the unique individuals that we are. No two glasses will be filled with the same contents or filled to the same level. The really cool and sometimes scary thing is that because our lives — -heart, soul, feelings, actions, desires, fears — -everything that makes us unique, no matter how small or large, is contained in these glasses.
Everyone that we ever come in contact with, no matter the amount of time, gets a chance to take a drink from the “glass” that is us. If you’re a little confused, that’s OK. Stay with me just a little longer.
If you take a drink from a glass of water, you will taste water. Take a drink from a glass of wine, and you will inevitably taste wine. If those same glasses were to turn over and spill, those contents would also spill, leaving its mark on everything it comes in contact with.
That is what happens with us too! Our “glass” — our life can only spill out what’s inside of it. So when we speak out of anger, arrogance, spite and even love, we are letting people taste what is inside the glass of “us”. Like I said, kind of cool but very scary at the same time.
Sometimes we don’t exactly know why a person is put into our path. Sometimes we don’t really know the impact that our words or actions have on those we come into contact with either. The only way to know, is to make sure we know what we have in our “glass”. Leave no question as to who you are or what you believe.
No hiding.
No masks.
No more actors faking lines or reciting scripture just because they think it impresses someone else. There is no place for the theater of theology.
Say it because it is in your heart and you believe it. If we say we are going to pray for someone, please pray for them. Put your words in to action.
I will do my best and I hope you will too.
Until next time….
On my playlist for today:
Beautiful Day — U2
Hallelujah — Jeff Buckley
The End — Kevin Max
Mystery — Phil Whicham
Highway Wings — Will Hoge
