They can’t give what they don’t have…

Jennifer has lived in the same house for the past ten years.  As life goes, it became time for a change. They put a sign in the yard. They sealed the deal. This Christmas, Jennifer’s family began to anticipate the impending transition with joy and sadness.  Joy for a dream fulfilled, but sadness as she realized she would be leaving a house she loved and neighbors that had somehow gone from neighbors-to-friends-to-almost family.

On Christmas Eve, Willie and Alice jumped into their Escalade and journeyed approximately 20 feet before pulling into Jennifer’s driveway.  They hopped out, popped the trunk and pulled out—of all things—a trampoline for Jennifer’s boys!

With mouths wide-open and jaws dropped, they stood in almost disbelief.  Willie and Alice had grown to love Jennifer and her family.  Although their children were grown and gone and had grandchildren similar ages as Jennifer’s boys, their heart had room for more.

They wanted to bless Jennifer the best way they knew how…a trampoline for her boys.

They certainly didn’t owe Jennifer anything.  Nothing was expected. Nothing demanded or contrived.  They gave out of the abundance of their heart.  Their cup was full—too overflowing.  And what spilled out of their heart was a gift Jennifer would have never imagined.  The treasure, even greater than the trampoline itself, was the love and generosity from which the gift originated.

Several times this Christmas season, I have heard or experienced disappointing realities.  I have heard of family members sitting under the weight of judgement.  Their appearance or belongings sized up and measured. Loved ones struggling to offer love, grace or encouragement. 

These realities have swirled in my mind as I have tried to understand why.  The bible talks a lot about sowing and reaping.  (Galatians 6:7) Maybe, I have personally experienced some of these realities because I have sowed a critical spirit or a faith with shallow roots.  Maybe, I’m simply reaping what I have sown. 

But as I have listened to friends share the burden of these disappointments, the message that kept being revealed was…They can’t give what they don’t have.  Their cup is empty.

Maybe some people have spent their whole lives sizing people and things up to determine if they measure up. Maybe they don’t realize it’s not about how they measure up rather what He has done. After all, people can’t give what they don’t have.  You can’t give love if you don’t know Love.  You can’t give grace, if you haven’t experienced Grace.  You can’t accept others if you don’t understand you have been chosen. You can’t offer encouragement, if you haven’t been filled by the source of Hope.

John chapter 4 talks about the time Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well.  Jesus asked her to draw some water for Him.  But He also told her…”Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.”

The only way to fill my cup is to partake of Him.  He is the only One who offers springs of living water welling up within me.  The only way to give is to first receive.   Receive of Him.  I can give love, because I have known LOVE.  I can give grace because I have experienced GRACE.  I can offer acceptance because I know I have been chosen. I can speak encouragement, hope and life because I know the author of HOPE and LIFE.

I want to be like Willie and Alice.  I want to live from a place of fullness.  I want my cup to be overflowing.  I want my light to shine before others so that they may see my good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)  AND, I want to view others through the lens of compassion.  Realizing they can’t give what they don’t have.

But first, I must learn to receive from Him. I must learn to be filled by His streams of living water.