A Full Glass.

            Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6

           

I am told there are two ways of perceiving life: by seeing the glass half-full or by seeing the glass half-empty. I beg to differ.  Life is always full- whether full of disappointment, hope, joy, anger, or sadness.  When we refer to our lives as being empty, we more accurately mean we are filling it with the wrong sort of things.  More often than not, though, we do not control what fills our glass and before we know it, our cup is overflowing with tears.  Life has a way of just happening, ready or not.  The tears that come cannot always be dammed, nor should they be. But how we choose to deal with these tears will dictate the course of our life. 

            My family has tasted their fair share of tears, though fair is hardly appropriate to describe the sleepless nights and years of illness plaguing them.  Last weekend, my parents, aunts, and uncles went to the San Juan Islands to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a new life- in the form of a kidney- for my aunt and uncle, who were diagnosed with kidney disease approximately a decade ago.  While I hardly have the words, insight, or perspective they would be able to convey concerning the grueling and extensive season which they learned to call life, I think they would agree that there are times when all you can pray for in honesty and desperation is a blessing not in disguise.  Nevertheless, unmasking the silver lining, however impossible as some may pin it, was a daily choice for my family.

Of course, the easiest route to take when tragedy or trials hits us, is to let the tears create their own paths as we drown in them.  While initially this requires less effort, ultimately our tears will wash out our joy and rob us of our blessings.  The other option goes completely against our natural inclinations.  That is, we can walk with God on the high road even when the tears fall.  As we follow Him, our tears will water the seeds along the way.  If we are careful not to allow the tears blind us from God’s goodness, we will soon see the reward of filling our life with Christ.  Our cup will be full of joy.

As I mentioned earlier, it has been one year since my uncle was given a kidney by his wife and my aunt was given a kidney by my dad.  As miraculous as the unrelated organ match was in and of itself, I must clarify that my description of this “new life” is a reference to their health alone- the life they lived while under the diagnosis of a disease may have been trying, but it was nonetheless rich.  While I know my aunt and uncle are deeply appreciative of their physical handicap being lifted, I would argue that it is that very handicap which lifted them.  The burden of pain proved to be the wings to greater satisfaction, gratefulness and fullness of life.  I belong to a rich family.  Their wealth may not be acknowledged by Bill Gates, but it is far more valuable.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away- but the person who learns to pour out their life to Him regardless of what they have been dealt has learned the trick to fulfillment.

So let us raise our full glass and toast- to the richness of life with Christ.

More.

What was your five-year plan, five years ago?  What about your two-year plan, two years ago?  Whenever I ask people that question, it arouses either laughter or frustration.  I know it does for me, too.  I laugh at how naïve I was in thinking I knew what I wanted.  And there are times I am frustrated at how miserably I’ve failed in achieving these plans.  I admit that, despite being only twenty years old, there are times I can already feel the walls of the hourglass suffocating me.  With each precious grain of time that slips out from underneath my feet, I become more aware of how small and insignificant my life has been.  The mirror of reality is hardly reflective of the many aspirations and fabricated ideas I have developed of what a successful and fulfilling life looks like.  I want more.

More.  Generally, Christians don’t give this four-letter word enough credit, labeling this innate desire as sin and encouraging us to suppress it.  But just like friends, money, and sex, the hunger for more is not wrong unless we feed it with the wrong things at the wrong time.  Wasn’t it Christ who commanded us to “Be perfect”?  Jesus was in no way naïve to our incompetence in carrying out this order.   Rather, He knew that if He merely commanded us to “try hard” or “do your best”, we would no doubt, in our own minds, find that we had achieved this.  He built the drive for more into us in hopes that it would be the vehicle to bring us closer to Him. We must stop perceiving this instruction to “Be perfect” as a gauge in how miserably we’ve failed and begin to view it as an invitation to always grow nearer to the God of the universe.  Whenever you begin to crave more of success, relationships, money, food, sex, etc., redirect that desire toward Christ and I promise He will satisfy you.  I am convinced that if we were to truly realize how many gifts, hand-wrapped by God, we let pass us by daily, we would wake up each morning feeling like a ten-year-old child on Christmas morning. Throw out any mentality of finding a “happy medium” in Christianity- for to be happy is to be fully devoted and passionately pursuing Christ and to be “medium” is to be miserably discontent or falsely comforted.  Never settle for how good your walk with Him was yesterday.  His plan for you and I is always unfathomably better than the ones we create for ourselves.  Without realizing it, each goal I make can become an additional layer on the wall separating me from experiencing God’s best.  My own high expectations become the cage imprisoning me.  There is so much more.  Free me from my own definition of success, Lord, and feed my hunger with more of You.