A cup of plenty
What is in the cup that you’re holding in your hand?
Not the cup of tasty soup or a cup of tea that you’re warming cold hands on as you sip its contents. It is possible that you haven’t got a cup to hold, or an empty dented tin can or grimy plastic container, as you wait for some passer-by to fill it. What a disaster when the cup of soup slips out of your hands to smash on the floor, splattering the contents as it does so. The mopping up process involves shooing everyone away, gingerly picking up the pieces and mopping up the spillage and splinters, with a final hoover to make sure the area is safe.
As we go into the New Year would it be beneficial to ourselves and those we live and mix with to examine the contents of the personal cup we hold. Do we identify with any of these possibilities?
Wouldn’t it be good if our cup was full of mercy, justice and generosity? Should our cup smash for whatever reason, would we just buy another one, possibly a different one with a better attitude.
The challenge of 2022 is to make it work, filling our cup with good positive things without guilt, bitterness or overwhelming sadness, but rather a desire to give and lighten the lives of others. Breakages and spillages do happen – it’s what we do with them that matters.
Not the cup of tasty soup or a cup of tea that you’re warming cold hands on as you sip its contents. It is possible that you haven’t got a cup to hold, or an empty dented tin can or grimy plastic container, as you wait for some passer-by to fill it. What a disaster when the cup of soup slips out of your hands to smash on the floor, splattering the contents as it does so. The mopping up process involves shooing everyone away, gingerly picking up the pieces and mopping up the spillage and splinters, with a final hoover to make sure the area is safe.
As we go into the New Year would it be beneficial to ourselves and those we live and mix with to examine the contents of the personal cup we hold. Do we identify with any of these possibilities?
- The cup of sorrow and sadness.
- The cup of wrath and frustration.
- The cup of bitterness and envy.
- Instead of the cup of plenty, do we hold a cup of poverty?
- Instead of a cup of graciousness, is our cup full of grudges and grievances?
Wouldn’t it be good if our cup was full of mercy, justice and generosity? Should our cup smash for whatever reason, would we just buy another one, possibly a different one with a better attitude.
The challenge of 2022 is to make it work, filling our cup with good positive things without guilt, bitterness or overwhelming sadness, but rather a desire to give and lighten the lives of others. Breakages and spillages do happen – it’s what we do with them that matters.
Merle Sparkes
|
Copyright © 2014-2023 Halesworth Community Church. All rights reserved.
Registered Charity No: 1125417 Privacy policy |
|