The seeds die in the parched ground, and the grain crops fail. The barns stand empty, and granaries are abandoned.
Sometimes we fail. Often we say the wrong things before we can close our mouths. Maybe we pushed someone away because they did not see things the way we do. Perhaps we just closed our eyes and prayed for the best. It’s like taking an empty glass to a desert, planting a seed and expecting it to grow and be fruitful. When we come at something empty, we produce an empty and broken atmosphere. Yes I am speaking my heart right now as I look across certain circles in my life and find that I am missing several friends who once were close. What happened? Was I the empty glass? Did I not have a desire within me to nurture life?
I probably could spend all night listing all of the things I could have possibly done in the past to hurt others or to make them want to leave my life. I admit I am not the best at making friendships work. It’s not selfishness or pride, it’s just I get tired of trying to be the good guy. I want to love like Jesus does with all that compassion and grace and I have a desire to love people right where they are at…..yet…..I fail. Why? Maybe I still have some brokenness. Maybe I am just too busy. Maybe I just don’t know what to say or do in certain situations and people think I have just let them go.
This is me. I am a product of revival. A creation only God could make. I am who I am, faults and all. I am a kind of love me or let me person be I guess. I have so many things consuming my life right now…work, family, church….how do I make it all balance and still work on relationships? Let’s get Biblical for a moment. What did Jesus command us to do right before He left us? To love one another and spread the Good News. Are we really filling those shoes if we walk around with empty glasses?
What exactly is an empty glass? Well, judgments, bitterness, unforgiveness, grudges, feeling unloved or unaccepted, mistrust, not letting the past go, misunderstandings, hatred, religion…..I could go on but it’s not pretty. What fills those glasses? Grace. How many of us have empty glasses? I have lost several friendships in the recent past due to my new marriage. What? Am I not happy and content and still following after God with all I am? Am I perfect at it? Nope. Do I do my best? Perhaps not always. Am I allowing God to change me as I go? You betcha! Maybe that’s wrong with me….I am too surrender.
How silly does that sound? Too surrendered. I guess what I am trying to get to is quite simple, I don’t want to be an empty glass and if I have been that to anyone reading this, I stand asking for forgiveness. I miss my friends. I miss the passion we once shared for God. I long for my glass to be overflowing so that wherever I go I will water the ground. I want to be a source of strength for someone else. I want my life to matter for God.
We as a body of Christ need to learn how to step in and stand beside our sister or brother even if we don’t always understand what God is doing in their lives. We need to love them right where they are and not judge them. We need to love one another not because we are perfect at being Christians, but because we recognize we all have pain. We all have past hurts. We all made wrong choices sometimes. We need to learn to seek God in the matters before us and not with our own wisdom. Yes, as Christians following after God we need to learn how to tell people that Jesus loves them no matter what and we should be able to do the same.
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Lord, fill my glass to overflowing. Change what you need to change in me. Give me the compassion to love. Show me how to be a friend. Let me not grow weary in sharing who You are to others. Allow me to leave a river of You wherever I go. Teach me Your ways Lord and give me wisdom to speak the right words. Thank you for the grace which fills my glass to overflowing each time I come to you.
Step Upon the Golden Road with Me! 
I’m with you, sister. You haven’t offended this relationship and our friendship, which remains strong as ever, and if I haven’t posted as often for you, it’s my own empty glass. I just posted on my wall a quote re: expecting others to respond to the Book I neglect. This walk is a continued one of Metanoia…turning around and going the other direction (repentance) when we see that we have gone down the wrong path…or down a side path that is not the most direct route to where we need or want to be. I just want you to know that the good news remains that we are joined by a three strand cord in the Spirit which is not easily broken!!! Also…HE knows the beginning to the end, and will be there to offer the water to fill our cup…day by day. His mercy is new every morning. You know I had my doubts about how quickly this relationship (marriage) came about…and I don’t think you wanted to hear my questions…and assumed I was judging you too…but I CARE about you, love you, and know GOD has a wonderful plan for your life. I have accepted that plan includes your new husband, so I embrace him now, too. But, some may need more time…or may need the Lord to speak to their hearts. I don’t know if you fought them when they tried to express their love to you with their doubts, or if they felt rejected because you were caught up with HONEYMOON and LOVE…..but GOD can heal those relationships if they were based on Christian love, too. It is hard too, for some who thought you were committed to what you once thought might happen for your X. What they need to see, is you are still committed to him being healed…just not being with you in Marriage. He can still find Jesus has a glass to fill for him, too. We all have our own burdens, but we can help carry them in different ways. I’m here praying with you and for you as I sense your conflicts with JOY of new LOVE, vs loss or diminishing relationship status with others…all newly weds have this in some ways, even if everyone approved of the marriage. You have a new roll and that requires time to learn how to manage your time around that. You have my number if you ever need to talk. Love you, girlfriend forever!