What’s Filling Your Cup?
“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” Psalm 23:5
Women’s events are starting to happen again, and I loved sharing at a fun, multi-cultural Women’s Tea recently. As the focus was on TEA, here’s what I said:
As many of you know, I’m culturally British and before I came to America, I lived in Kenya.
In a restaurant in Nairobi, I once overhead an American woman telling the waiter she wanted Iced Tea.
I had never heard of this before and nor had the poor waiter. He was totally confused because he had been trained by the British where tea was always served hot. He couldn’t make out what she was talking about, and nor could I.
BUT he went back to the kitchen and soon reappeared carrying a new tray with another teapot filled with boiling water, a cup and saucer, a little milk jug and sugar cubes, PLUS, to keep this lady happy, A BOWL OF ICE!
I could just imagine all the waiters in the kitchen thinking, these Americans are crazy! Who puts ice in their tea? (And that’s what I thought, too!)
Different cultures—different ways.
When you come to America after being raised in another culture, there are a lot of things that seem crazy! But to be fair, that is true anytime you move to a culture that is different from what you were raised in.
Whatever culture we’re from, none of us can enjoy drinking tea without a cup. Whether it’s large or small, a cup is essential.
Your life is like a cup.
In many ways, your life and mine are like a cup. And into it is poured our culture, education, personality, and perhaps lots of love and affirmation, OR too often, painful experiences that leave us emotionally hurt and wounded.
BUT when God looks at your life, your cup, He WANTS TO POUR IN HEALING AND HOPE. Why? BECAUSE He loves you, cares about you, and doesn’t want you to live in shame or guilt, or self-hatred, or bitterness.
When I became a believer in Jesus at 17, I struggled with all these things, like some of you do right now. I knew nothing about what God wanted to pour into my cup—but now I do. Let me briefly mention 4 things a growing relationship with Him gives you:
- A sense of His PRESENCE—in heartbreaking times of loss, loneliness, hurtful situations, confusion, and frightening times. Isaiah 43:2
- PEACE—With God—I love the powerful words of a contemporary song: No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. We also experience the Peace OF God as we go through life’s hard places. Romans 5:1-3
- PURPOSE-You have answers to your questions: Why am I here? Am I just a random result of evolution? Or am I shaped, drawn, and gifted by God to live for His purposes and praise? My life has meaning! Ephesians 1: 3-12
- PLEASURE-the joy of the Spirit fills you with delight, singing, laughter, and wonder at the truth: He knows my name! Galatians 5: 22-23
And just as a good strong cup of British tea gives you strength whenever you need it, so does knowing God is with you wherever you are and whatever is happening in your life.
Let me encourage you to take a few seconds or minutes to pause and pray and praise the God who has changed your life and who wants to continue pouring good things into your cup called LIFE!
(If you’re having a hard time with what is in your cup, please get in touch to talk or receive prayer: https://www.poppysmith.com/contact )
Poppy
Coaching Women to Grow in Christ