An empty cup.
It is appropriate this morning. I'm waiting until it is time to meet the others. In the meantime, I truly do have an empty cup. No music or candle. And, no flavored coffee...
It is just me, and while a moment ago I was wishing for more, I think this may be a gift on this particular day.
Joyce shares that there is a part of her that always wants to be full. There is a part of her that wants to feel good, to have life go well. Yes, that is me. I have wanted this day of voting....to just go away! I have wanted this day of high emotions...to pass silently.
Yet, here it is...and if I had my hot cup of flavored coffee, I suspect I would be using it to buffer myself in some way. I would think about the taste. I would think about how it feels as it slides down my throat. I would notice how nice it is to hold a warm cup between my hands...
Instead, I've got nothin.
I am an empty cup that is noticing a sense of peace filling up my heart.
I have written about noticing God everywhere...in all people. Sometimes that is really hard, yet today, from this place of peace, I hope to do a better job than I might have done by first numbing myself with "things that offer comfort."
Many years ago I went to hear a great spiritual teacher speak. I stood outside waiting to go in and I remember being struck by a strange calmness. You know how sometimes it feels as though you could "slice the tension with a knife"? That is the way this was, only I did not want to slice it....I wanted to just feel it...sink into it.
I do not remember a single thing that was said that day, but I have never forgotten that intense feeling of peace. Perhaps that is one gift I can bring to the gathering today. As I offer peace, perhaps someone else, once experiencing that peace might offer peace, and when someone...
Breathprayer:
Breathing in: Filling up......
Breathing out:......emptying out
...Look into the emptiness
Abide in the emptiness
Do not attempt to fill it with insights or feelings
Open the door to your heart
Go inside and be with God
I have to leave now, and I am not leaving alone.
Once again, this blog, though time consuming, has been a gift. I would not have spent the time with today's reading if it were not for this blog. I would have stayed in bed for another hour...
And I would have missed the wisdom within today's reflection.
God, help me abide in the emptiness today without filling it with ah-has from other voices...from speakers. God, help me to check the thoughts that give rise to feelings...so that I might remain empty. I like the image of opening the door to my heart and "me" going in to be with you. You are already there, waiting, if I open the door and go in. God...may I be present with you during this day. AMEN.
Many Blessings ~ Sandi
"Yet, I know that a cup that is always full does not have room to receive. It does not have space to contain anything more than what it already has. Likewise, a cup that is never used or shared will grow stale and tasteless." - p. 52
ReplyDeleteThis passage hit home. I need to be emptied, so that I may be filled with the Spirit. I need to breathe in and breathe out. I need to be emptied of self and filled with Christ. Lord, help me to leave all of me at the foot of the cross, for I know that I do not need to carry around all the baggage; you will give me what I need for each leg of my journey. Amen.