You can't pour from an empty cup.

I've had this post on my mind and heart for awhile now. I think we've all read the saying...

The most recent time that I came across this saying, it inspired my becoming a little more "unplugged" throughout the Advent and Christmas season. The idea of making sure that we take care of ourselves so that we can then in turn take care of others is wonderful and needed. It's a notion that I fully support. I think, though, that oftentimes we have better intentions of "filling our cup" than what actually ends up filling us. What I'm trying to say is...that I think we get this one wrong most times. I think we fill our cup with all the wrong things. We aim to fill our cup with all of the right things like, alone time for ourselves, or hobbies, or making memories with our family, or you-fill-in-the-blank-here. And those are all well and good things, don't get me wrong, but I'm just not sure that they are the right things that should be filling our cup.

Throughout the Advent and Christmas season I try my very best to teach my kids "JOY," which around our Hive is an acronym for: Jesus, Others, You. The idea is to remember...in all things...Jesus first, then others, and lastly yourself. So if I apply the "JOY" acronym to the idea of "filling my cup" it almost feels backwards or like a catch-22 or something.  I can't pour from an empty cup, meaning I need to put myself first and "fill my cup," but I should be putting Jesus first, others second, and myself last. Feeling confused yet??? It's actually quite simple. In order to "fill my cup" I must put Jesus first. Jesus will fill our cup. We will be full of Him. We can serve others. So both ideas are met.

This past Sunday our sermon at Grace Winter Garden went hand in hand with what's been buzzing around in my head. We are starting a series that will go through the book of Colossians, and the sermon this week reminded us that order matters when it comes to our well being. The issue that pastor Brian was getting at the heart of was that we must first put our lives, priorities, minds, hearts, in order of the things that truly matter so that we can accomplish all that God has for us.

We must put first things first. We must remember that we are saints. (Col 1:2) We are to take care of our spiritual well being first and foremost. How often do we forget that we are not made for this world? I know that I'm not very good at remembering to act as a saint in all that I do. I fail on a daily hourly minute-ly basis in remembering to set Christ at the forefront of my mind. One small way that I'm trying to put first things first is by starting my day by reading from my Bible. It is the very first thing that I do, and has become a habit now, one that I look forward to. (when I finally convince myself to get out of the bed) It's a nice way to start my mind and heart out with a clear focus on Christ and what really matters.

We must focus our energy on what really matters. We ought to be Kingdom minded in all that we do. We should set our minds on things above and not of this world. (Col 3:2) If we focus on Christ and who He is then we will have a clear picture of the things that truly matter. I tend to fall back on the fruits of the Spirit pretty frequently throughout my day. I even sing a song about them when I'm reeeeally needing to realign my heart and attitude. This helps me to have and show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control in the moments that I need to most. I am not at all perfect at this...just ask my husband and my kids.

We must do these things now. We are creatures of habit, and chances are that if these things aren't something that we do on a regular basis now, then it is easier for us to say we'll start another time, or day, or week, etc. I know I can be the world's best Scarlett, and just think about it tomorrow, but there's no room for that when it comes to this matter. Jesus is asking us to follow Him, but not sometime in the future. He means now. Like, right now. And in following Him, He makes us whole...He fills our cup when we follow Him.

Pastor Brian made so many wonderful points, and I can't begin to attempt to cover them all, (and most likely did a poor job in covering the ones above), but I just thought it was so awesome that the series we are starting is, in a way, mirroring what I've been dwelling on. In following the "JOY" way of thinking I am able to "fill my empty cup."

I think that the timing of this is perfect too, with it being the beginning of a new year and everyone making resolutions...trying desperately to "fill their cups." We all want to start the new year off right, but let's be careful to not "fill our cups" with all the wrong things. What if we all start with Jesus?

<3

When our big plans fail

Hey y'all! It's been a minute since I've blogged hasn't it? I would apologize, but I'm actually not sorry about it. It's not that I don't care about y'all, and I'm not trying to sound mean, but I'm not sorry for my unexpected break from blogging this past month. In fact...I'm pretty proud of myself for taking a break. Let me tell you why...

First of all, I had a week where my family came to visit me!!! This was so exciting and fun and we made lots of memories and had lots of laughs. Seriously. It was healing to my soul to have my family here at the Hive. So while they were on the drive down I made a commitment to myself to put away my phone and laptop so that those things would not be a distraction during the time family was visiting. So there it was...a planned week long break from blogging. This felt strange at first, as I had been blogging nearly everyday for quite sometime, but after the initial strangeness wore off it was so pleasant to just enjoy every little thing. My one week hiatus turned into a week and a half and then quickly two weeks. I started to feel convicted, but not convicted about not blogging. I started feeling convicted about how much I had been missing out on...on all those days spent blogging (and on my phone) how much had I missed? Truth is...there was no way for me to even know how much I had missed. So I made another conscience decision to be "unplugged" for a bit longer. Especially during this precious time of Advent that we celebrate every year, things can already be so busy and rushed and full of activities. I wanted to make sure that I focused on the things that truly mattered and not have any guilt hanging over me for not answering every text or email right away or even blogging each nap time. I had originally had these big, BIG plans of blogging our Advent readings and activities for y'all to follow along with us, but I quickly realized that in my big plans I was actually failing entirely. I was failing to miss the real point. I was stealing the glory of the Advent season. 

In the time I've been away from the blog (and my phone too), we have had more time to fully enjoy the Advent season. We have enjoyed our usual nightly Bible readings, lighting the Advent candles, and family discussions of the gift of Christ. We have enjoyed many activities...some that went over well and some that were flops...some planned and some spur of the moment ideas too. We have sung Christmas songs, danced to Christmas music, made gifts, wrapped presents, baked cookies, painted, colored, glittered, glued, crafted, had an indoor snowball fight more than once, cleaned out toys and donated them, watched Christmas movies, drank and ate a lot of Starbuck's treats, and gotten lost driving to look at Christmas lights. It truly has been a wonderful and precious time of anticipation here at the Hive. I can't help but think that my not so unexpected break from being plugged in all the time...came at just the time. Just when I needed a reminder to slow down and enjoy the things that truly matter in life so that my heart could be fully prepared, and I could then prepare my children's hearts, to experience the Advent season and the celebration of the birth of Christ. 

Often we get ourselves wrapped up in all these ideas of what we should be reading, doing, experiencing that we miss what's truly important. We need to remember to not focus on all the "things" so that we don't miss focusing on THE thing that matters. We will forget to read one night, light the wrong candle, have an activity that turns into a disaster and isn't fun for anyone. If we are not careful to keep our focus right, we will end up serving our activity calendar, instead of serving Christ. You see...we don't need to plan big because we will fail.

The good news is that God has already planned big for us. We just have to enjoy the ride. 

I encourage you, in this week(!) before Christmas, to take some time to enjoy the ride. Maybe you need to unplug from a few things too? Phone? Computer? Planned activities even? Take time to refocus your heart on the meaning of this season. Prepare for the celebration to come. Let Jesus be your big plan. 

Jesus. Others. You.

<3