Saturday, November 8, 2008
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How Full is Your Glass?
There are apparently two kinds of people in this world. There are those whose glass is half-empty and there are those whose glass is half-full. And although they actually have the same amount of liquid in their glasses, these two kinds of people end up living life very differently. Sometimes we talk about optimists and pessimists. Invariably, we come across guy named Murphy, who sounds like a half-empty kind of guy to me, and his law that says that whatever can go wrong will. He wondered whether his glass was even half full? Murphy was maybe a quarter-full kind of person. Not to be outdone, some guy named Flanagan made his own precept: Murphy was an optimist. I wonder whether Flanagan even had a glass?
I don't know where you tend to fall on this continuum. And I don't know about the people that are around you. I do know that it is not fun hanging out with half-full people most of the time. And being around anyone who believes that they have less than that can be a real drag. How full is your glass? Are you easy or difficult to be around? Is life abundant and full or has it all been stolen, killed and destroyed (see John 10:10)?
Apparently David was neither of these two kinds of people and maybe we should not be either. In one of his most famous poems, and one of the most familiar Bible passages in history, he says his cup is not half-empty or half-full, no, "my cup overflows!" (Psalm 23:5). And, it was that way because of his relationship to God. Maybe focusing on our cup is where the problem begins. The problem is not how much is in the cup at all but where we are looking. Why are we looking at the glass? David discovered the key:
"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Psalm 103:1-2).
Maybe instead of obsessing about our lives and whether they have been good or bad in our own opinion, we should shift our focus to the one who gave us life. Praise the Lord. Bless the Lord. O my soul. From that deep God-planted place in our lives, from way down deep inside of us, praise his holy name. Forget not all his benefits. Would David have encouraged us not to forget unless it was easy to do exactly that? Life happens, and it is easy to loose focus. It is easy to see only our problems and our struggles and our challenges. That is because they are immediate and threatening and in our faces. Turn your face toward heaven.
"Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up." — Anonymous
I want to encourage you to forget about the glass. I want you to focus rather on the blessings of God. What has he already given us? What do we have? The half-full is half-full of blessings that we have already received! In 1897, hymn-writer Johnson Oatman penned these lyrics: "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done." That is good, but don't stop there. There are still many more things that God has for each of us. He wants our cup like David's, to overflow!
Psalm 103 has more than two verses. It is full of things that God may have already poured into your cup. Maybe there are other things that he could fill your cup with today. I want to encourage you to read the whole Psalm. I timed it. It will take about two minutes. And, if you don't have a Bible in front of you, simply go to the new BibleGateway.com link on the left side of the faith-forward webpage and call up Psalm 103. This Psalm talks about forgiveness and love and healing and all kinds of good things. It is his word and it is his will for each of us and his angels will go and accomplish it for us if we ask (see verses 20-21)!
My glass may have been half-full or half-empty, but as we look up to him in faith and bless the Lord, something can and will happen, not only will my perspective change, my cup will overflow!
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