Our first chapter topic is :
"Half Empty or Half Full"
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One winter many years ago my family joined a friend and his family for the “Little House on the Prairie” Christmas experience. Except instead of a prairie we had these New England mountain cabins. We had it all; we were away from the city up on an infrequently traveled road. Snow covered the hill the trees looked like one of those Christmas cards with an artist rendering of snow on trees at the edge of a clearing. We had rustic log cabins, heated by wood burning stoves. We had our very own kitchen mouse, Family, friends, kids. Did I mention no running water and outdoor facilities? I should probably also mention that it was cold and that a wood burning stove pretty much heats everything within eight feet after that, you just keep a coat handy. Oh and I should also make mention of the fact that most of the women/girls with us were not very fond of the kitchen mouse.
Now the ten of us who shared this experience, pretty much experienced everything everyone else experienced, but depending on which of us you are speaking to you get a different impression of an unforgettable Christmas experience.
We drew names and made homemade gifts, we had a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree, and we read from the Bible the account of the birth of Jesus.
Every person who was a child for that experience has voiced a desire to go again and relive a Christmas experience that very few have an opportunity to try. Every adult seems to first recall a particular unpleasant incident before they recount the story of their Christmas experience.
Is it attitude, age, experience that lets us see the glass and half full or half empty?
Did I forget to mention that I learned; that when you have to use unheated out door facilities in the dead of winter, that it is best to not wear one piece long-johns?
I'm sitting in a restaurant sipping my Dr. Pepper. My cup quickly drained at first, so I started sipping, not sure of how quickly the waitress would return. My favorite waitress goes ahead and offers you more when the cup is about half empty. She gets a sweet tip. The others, always seem to see my cup as half full. They leave me hanging until I've tried to pointedly make slurpy noises with the drops at the bottom of my cup.
Somewhere along lifes journey, I realized that God will always see me as half-empty. Half-empty in the best kind of way. No matter how full, how happy, how much joy I have, He's got more to offer. I'm never going to reach the bottom of my cup, never going to make those slurpy noises. He's got His eyes peeled, watching me drink waiting for the first opportunity to top off the cup.
With service like this - I'd tell my friends about this place.
I would love to experience what this family experienced. However, I tend to see the glass as half full. God seems to permit both views in this world he created, but positive thinking seems to also be biblical. That is why the glass is always half full.
My take can go two ways. It is a matter of focus, If I have the positive focus that is God given then the glass is half full. However, if I am in the negative our loving God will fill the glass full of His mercy. As a matter of fact full to overflowing.
I think that sometimes the innocence of age does play a part in how we view things. I was reminded of this one day while at a neighborhood park with my then five year old daughter. The park was covered in tiny pebbles. The kind that gets in your shoes no matter what kind you are wearing. I have always found them to be very irritating and hate the way they make your shoes dirty after just one trip to the park. Well one afternoon as my daughter played at the park she would stop every once in a while and pick up one of these tiny pebbles and race over to me. She would place the pebble in my hand and tell me how special it was and what attracted her to it and ask me to keep it for her. This continued several times as she played and I realized something very important while I sat there holding her precious stones in my hand. I realized that I tend to see myself as one tiny pebble in a world filled with pebbles. Most of us are covered in dirt and can feel as if no one will ever notice us. But God views us as my daughter viewed each of her precious stones. He knows exactly where to find us, He knows how special we are and no longer sees the dirt that covers us. He just picks us up and holds us in his hands. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day at the park or the lesson that was taught to me by a child playing and enjoying the world around her and by a very big God who loves me just the way I am.
Attitude....we (my family) have been going through some extremely rough times lately. It has been stressful, painful and at times causing bitterness and tears. It finally came down to a decision that we were all taking a break from work etc....removing ourselves from the situation so that we can catch our breath before the negativity takes us down. Which, by the way, it was already doing.
The decision alone gave us a feeling of relief and closeness with each other. And then today...the last day before "vacation" starts....we find humor in everything. We have been laughing and crying (because of laughing so hard) that our ribs and stomachs hurt.
But oh what a wonderful blessing! We chose to view things differently, to remove ourselves from the gloom and look what happened! We have enjoyed each other and life feels good again!
Thank you God for seeing us through!
Am I becoming less or more? Losing or gaining? Wherever I am in life am I retreating or advancing? How do I see me NOW?
Lord, fill me with your love. Fill me with your spirit. Though you've only filled me half way, fill me more. Let me gain and advance in your kingdom that I can overflow and share what brims over and pour that into the cups of others that are only half full.
Let me say up front that I have always been a ”glass half full” kind of girl. I like the soaring up kind of feeling, not the downhill ride on a roller coaster. Having said that, I also think that throughout life we will have times when we will be on a downhill roll that we feel we can not stop. I know that in those times God is very present. Sometimes I can feel it and sometimes I need to look for Him. He has put the answers to life problems and questions in His word. I have always found this to be true, but it requires action on my part. When life has thrown it’s best shot and I feel I am fighting to survive, the glass can look empty. I’ve learned that while I await God’s refilling, I can fill my glass too. God has given us a free will, and we use it. But that does not mean that God has abandoned me or suddenly His word is not effective for my life. It’s like a toddler learning to walk. They want to do it all by themselves. But mom and dad are always in the wings waiting to catch or console. God does not leave us, or say “ O.K. you’re on your own now.” The answers to questions in my life have always been in the Bible. It’s as if He wrote it just for me. Lately, my health has not been what I would like it to be. I have started to see the bottom of the glass. This is a big surprise to me…I have never been this close to the bottom before. But I have also learned what a difference a few hours or a day can make. I guess I’m saying that when the bottom approaches I start clinging to the rim of the glass. That’s where the filling takes place. The alternative would be to slowly head to the bottom, until we are completely empty. The hope that Christ has put in my life and heart just won’t let me go to the bottom. Besides when the glass is empty you need to wash it. I hate dirty dishes.
RPTilley
I think for along time I was an empty cup until God shook me enough to get my attention. There might have been a little in the bottom but not near enough to call half. Now a days I see my cup as full and running over as I look at what God has done in my life and others around me. I think once you finally "get it" you think why was I so stubborn in trying to do all that other stuff when God was right there waiting patiently for me to change like the potter and the clay. Some of us are just to dense to see thru the clay to realize how easy it is to be a cup that runs over.
The greater question that might be asked is "What difference does it make if the glass is half empty or half full?
Consider these questions:
1. What is the glass half full of?
2. What exists in the unfilled portion of the glass?
What matters most is how we use matter and space. Ten years after my death, will I be remembered for how I used the half full portion, or the half empty portion?
God gives us the matter and the space. It is how we use them, rather than how we view them, that really matters to God.
Jiggy's Brother
both. the glass is half empty and half full.
This is a great question and got me thinking about another option altogether... overflowing. I hope my cup is neither half empty, half full or even fully (100%) full. I want it to overflow. The shepherd boy David said, "My cup runneth over" (Psalm 23.5). Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who beleives in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innoeermost being will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7.37-38).
If Jesus lives in me then I am responsible to let Him come out so others can experience Him. That will not happen in my life if I am half empty or half full, or even full for that matter. I have to have more than enough living water for myself so other thirsty souls may come and drink from the well of living water Jesus has placed in me.
I wrote more about this in my July 31 blog entry at www.wordtraveler.org (http://www.scrivenblog.blogspot.com/). I would love to have you visit.
Your Friend,
Dave
The glass is always full.
Sometimes it's full of water.
Sometimes air.
Sometimes a bit of both.
The question is:
What do you want it filled with?
I prefer coffee.
I've hit a tough patch in my role as a parent recently with my son, who is barely 20 and not making wise choices. Well, I went through a few days of questioning "Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently?". The usual questions we parents ask ourselves. Suddenly, after about 3 days of that, it was as if God whispered in my ear "What has changed? You now know the truth. Does this make you less my child? Or him less my child? Are you going to let Satan use this situation to steal your joy of who you are in me?" At first I was seeing my glass as half empty. But in His gentle way, He filled the glass in my soul back up with HIs love and encouragement. So that my strength is renewed in HIm and I know that even if my son continues to make the wrong choices he not only has a mom who is waiting for him to turn around, but a loving Father standing beside me waiting also.
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