15-03-2005, 08:22 AM
I am collecting teacups, and a friend gave me this little devotional book with a pretty picture of a teacup and roses on the cover.
I would like to take some time over the next few weeks to posts some of the encouragement it gave me.
It is from the book : Fill My Cup Lord by Emilie Barnes.
Fill my cup, Lord.... I offer you my cup of stress that you may fill it with quietness.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2
Quiet time.
It's a lovely phrase, isn't it? To me, "quiet time" summons up images of stillness and serenity, of a quiet communion with God on a beautiful garden patio or a cozy window seat - reading his Word and praying and journaling while a fragrant cup of tea steams at my elbow.
And I have wonderful quiet times like that.
But these days, I have to confess, my quiet times are not always so quiet - at least not at first. Sometimes they start out more like silent wrestling matches as I strugle with my fears, my worries, my pain.
Do you have times like that? Times when you seek out solitued, flee into stillness, only to find that your worries have followed and refuse to leave you alone? Or times when your schedule is so demanding that quiet time with God feels like just one more chore you can't manage?
If so, I have good news for you.
A quiet spirit is not a requirement for a quiet time with the Lord.
Yes, I need to be willing to come to him, to offer him my cup filled with whatever is troubling me. But if I do that, I have found that he can supply the quiet spirit. If I can mange to hand over that cup of trouble, he can and will fill iit to overflowing with serenity and peace.
What a wonderful thing to know, to remember, to remind yourself of when you feel overwhelmed with busyness or with pain. You don't have to come to him quiet. You just need to come to him.
The last few years hae not been easy ones for our family. Not only has our schedule been packed with important but wearying obligations, but the trauma of an impending divorce has also torn a big rip in the fabric of our lives. I've had to watch as people I love make decisions I don't understand or approve of, and I've agonized as other Ilove suffer hurts I can't soothe. I've had to wait for answers and understanding and resolution that just haven't come yet.
That's why so many of my quiet times lately have started out anything but quiet. Often I have been angry or torn or worried or scared.
But that's why I need the quiet in the the first place. When my mind is full of clamor and my cup is full of trouble, that's when I most need to hear God's still small voice, and to feel his peace.
This is what I'm learning once again as I hold up my cup to the Lord and seek to spend time with him:
My quiet time is not a gift I give to God.
My quiet time is a gift God gives to me.
I come with my cup of confusion and worry. He's the one who takes that cup and empties it and then pours it full of quietness and peace.
He supplies the quiet. I supply the time.
:hartlik:
I would like to take some time over the next few weeks to posts some of the encouragement it gave me.
It is from the book : Fill My Cup Lord by Emilie Barnes.
Fill my cup, Lord.... I offer you my cup of stress that you may fill it with quietness.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2
Quiet time.
It's a lovely phrase, isn't it? To me, "quiet time" summons up images of stillness and serenity, of a quiet communion with God on a beautiful garden patio or a cozy window seat - reading his Word and praying and journaling while a fragrant cup of tea steams at my elbow.
And I have wonderful quiet times like that.
But these days, I have to confess, my quiet times are not always so quiet - at least not at first. Sometimes they start out more like silent wrestling matches as I strugle with my fears, my worries, my pain.
Do you have times like that? Times when you seek out solitued, flee into stillness, only to find that your worries have followed and refuse to leave you alone? Or times when your schedule is so demanding that quiet time with God feels like just one more chore you can't manage?
If so, I have good news for you.
A quiet spirit is not a requirement for a quiet time with the Lord.
Yes, I need to be willing to come to him, to offer him my cup filled with whatever is troubling me. But if I do that, I have found that he can supply the quiet spirit. If I can mange to hand over that cup of trouble, he can and will fill iit to overflowing with serenity and peace.
What a wonderful thing to know, to remember, to remind yourself of when you feel overwhelmed with busyness or with pain. You don't have to come to him quiet. You just need to come to him.
The last few years hae not been easy ones for our family. Not only has our schedule been packed with important but wearying obligations, but the trauma of an impending divorce has also torn a big rip in the fabric of our lives. I've had to watch as people I love make decisions I don't understand or approve of, and I've agonized as other Ilove suffer hurts I can't soothe. I've had to wait for answers and understanding and resolution that just haven't come yet.
That's why so many of my quiet times lately have started out anything but quiet. Often I have been angry or torn or worried or scared.
But that's why I need the quiet in the the first place. When my mind is full of clamor and my cup is full of trouble, that's when I most need to hear God's still small voice, and to feel his peace.
This is what I'm learning once again as I hold up my cup to the Lord and seek to spend time with him:
My quiet time is not a gift I give to God.
My quiet time is a gift God gives to me.
I come with my cup of confusion and worry. He's the one who takes that cup and empties it and then pours it full of quietness and peace.
He supplies the quiet. I supply the time.
:hartlik:
