What cup are you drinking from?

If you read my devotion titled “But there’s a lesson in this”, you would know that I find a lesson or nugget of truth for every happenstance. Some require a lot of thought and prayer and some are so obvious I feel compelled to share almost as soon as they happen.

This week I had a very absentminded “accident.” I seem to be none the worse for wear today other than my bruised ego and occasional waves of nausea when I think about it. We have chickens. They are pets and we get about 2 ½ dozen eggs a week from them. In case you are not aware of chicken anatomy, here is a quick briefing. They have one hole in their bottom. The eggs and everything else that comes out of them, comes via the same route. This means we need to wash the eggs well before putting them away for eating. Usually one of the kids leaves them soaking in a dish or cup with soapy water until I get to them.

The other night, as I was finishing the dishes, I poured a large cup of water with which to take a pill. I set it down and turned to talk to the quarreling boys in the other room. I picked up a cup and took a large swallow. I wish it was the cup of fresh water I had just poured! Unfortunately it was the cup with the poopy eggs in it! To make matters worse, I frantically began swishing my mouth out and trying to gargle with antibacterial soapy water. News flash, it is not advisable to gargle with soap. It suds. In the end, I received an antibiotic and now I can’t even look at an egg or the large green cup it was soaking in.

Are you ready for the lesson? You saw the title. The Lord tells us that He is our living water. That anyone who comes to Him and drinks from His well shall not be thirsty. It made me think of what well I am drinking from. Am I taking in His word every day? Am I praying ALWAYS like He says?

I am trying to lose weight right now. The program I am using has a great emphasis on God. It speaks of filling ourselves with the word and prayer rather than binging on food. There is more too it than that too but, the principle is my focus here. Just like the type of food we ingest, we have choices about what kind of “water” that goes into our soul. When we feel empty, stressed or are longing, we can choose to drink from the well of life or choose to drink from the “wrong cup.”

Now, of course, I didn’t intentionally drink from the poopy cup- it was accidental. How did it happen? There were a few unfortunate events that led up to this but the main one was that I was busy and distracted so I wasn’t paying attention. That happens with our Spiritual life too sometimes. We get busy so we don’t have time to read the word. We are tired so we can’t focus on prayer. We are running here and there, even working in the church. But what cup are WE drinking from? We need to stop and pay attention. We could get spiritually dehydrated if we are not replenishing ourselves. But, we need to be sure we are drinking and from right cup.

Lastly, I said my ego was bruised. The incident required that I call the doctor. That meant I had to tell the receptionist, who transferred me to the nurse. I then had to tell the nurse who scheduled an appointment promptly with the doctor. Then, I had to sit face to face with the doctor and explain what I did. It was embarrassing. I concluded my story by saying “I bet you have never heard of someone who did this before (while I was imagining a giant “L” for loser tattooed on my forehead!) His reply, “Actually, when you have been around as long as I have, you’ve heard just about everything, including this.” Apparently I have a twin somewhere in this world who did the same thing a few years ago. (My “L” felt smaller then.)

It makes me think about the forgiving nature of Christ. He is a kind and merciful Savior. He looks on our mistakes with grace. If you have been drinking from the wrong cup, He will forgive you. He loves you. You can’t do anything He hasn’t seen before and He has the remedy. Pay attention to what you are drinking and where you get your water from.
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 7:13-14

Dear sweet Savior, thank you for being ny living water. Thank you for eternal life. Forgive me for not paying attention as I should to what well I am drinking from. Please fill me with you and cleanse my soul. Amen