Teacup or Teapot?

A brunch for a group of women could be called a more “grown up person” tea party. I had the opportunity to speak to a group of Christian Women at a brunch this weekend. So what better way to connect God’s word to a brunch than through a comparison of teacups and teapots? The questions I had the girls think about was: If you were to classify yourself what would it be as? A teacup or a teapot? While they began to think and make a decision I use the time to describe to them what each one meant.

TEACUPS:

• Beautiful
• Delicate, yet strong
• Unique
• Holds what is put into them with no outlet

TEAPOTS:

• Beautiful
• Delicate, yet strong
• Unique
• Pours out what is put into it

2 Corinthians 1: 3-5 ~“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

When you compare a teacup and a teapot you will notice they both have great qualities, yet one holds onto what is put into it aka the teacup, while the other pours it out again aka the teapot. Which would you rather be? A teacup or a teapot? If the ‘tea’ is left inside, it will become old and stagnant. In result, if we hold onto to our blessings and not pour them out onto others, we to become old and stagnant as well. We will remain beautiful on the outside, but what is on the inside will become displeasing to the Lord and ourselves. If we pour ourselves and our blessings out over others, we remain fresh and rejuvenated. The Lord will keep us filled with His Spirit and His Love as we go back to Him to be strengthened and encouraged.

The Lord is the one who fills us each day. As we do our daily devotionals and prayers we allow Him to encourage us, teach us and comfort us. We are being filled with His Spirit.

Here are a few questions for you to think and reflect on. What are you doing with all this love and wisdom that He has filled us with? Are you pouring it out of our teapots onto others each day, or are you holding it all in your tea cups? God comforts us, so we in turn should comfort those around us in need.

Loving Yourself

Now in the previous post, I talked about how to love God but I left you hanging another week to see how you are suppose to love yourself. Again in the greatest commandment, it says in Matthew 22:39 ~ “Love your neighbor as yourself”. A lot of times when I read this I think I must first love myself before I can love others, but Jesus is not teaching us self-love here. He is saying that just as you already love yourself, care and think about yourself, you’re to also love your neighbor in the same way.

We obviously already have the first part about loving ourselves down. In Ephesians 5:29 Paul says “No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it” Now, you always hear people say, “Man, I hate myself. I’m ugly. I’m fat. I’m stupid. Blah blah blah. When really when they are saying all of these things they are obviously bringing attention to themselves and proves to us all that they actually love themselves.

So, just as you love yourself you should do the same for those around you. You should care for them and think of them just as equal as you are. Not a single person is better than another. Having lots of money, fancy cars, or living in a mansion doesn’t make you any better than the person without anything living on the streets with one pair of clothes. John 13:35 ~ “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples”

So loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself will fulfill the greatest commandment God has given us. Take time to think about what convinces you that you do, indeed, love yourself. And think about what God wants you to do today to demonstrate love to others. Get excited for what God is doing in your life and keep on loving him and he will keep on loving you! Romans 8:28 ~ “ All things work together for good to those who love God.”

Loving God

I spoke not too long ago to my sorority about how to love God as you love yourself. The basis of this message was centered on the greatest commandment that is noted in Matthew 22: 37-39 ~ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” These seem like simple commandments, but there are so many details in each one that if even one is left out you are not fully fulfilling the commandments.

We can resemble our life as a candy bar. We all start out plain and simple like a Hershey bar. There is nothing exciting about this, it’s just pure ol’ chocolate. But when we add ingredients it makes the candy more tasteful and enjoyable.

In the first step it is talking about how to love the Lord with all your heart. So to make our candy bar more interesting we add some peanuts, which make this Hershey bar into a Mr. Goodbar and will resemble our heart. Our heart is the core of our personal being; it is what we are centered around. Without it we could not live, much less love others.

Once you get down the basics of loving God with you all your heart, you next add in some caramel to the Hershey bar, which makes a tasty Rolo. The caramel will resemble your soul. Without the caramel you are back to pure chocolate and would bring you back to the original you. But with them, you are showing love to God with all of your emotions, everything that you have inside of you.

Finally, you must love God with all your mind. This mind will be represented by peanut butter, like the kind in Reeses. Loving with your mind means with all the mental energy, strength, intellectual commitment, and determination you have. It is all the strength you have on both the inside and out!

Now when you add in the peanuts, caramel, and peanut butter to the original Hershey bar you come out with a wonderful candy bar, and my favorite, the Snickers. At this point you are loving God with all of you heart, soul, and mind. You have fulfilled his greatest commandment and are loving God to the most. But without any of these ingredients, you don’t have a Snickers, and you are not fully loving God.

So when you think about loving God, think back and take note to see if you are in proper balance in the way that you love God. Think about what your strengths in loving God are and make those weaknesses just as strong. God wants you to love him as He loves you, but you must complete all three steps equally in order to love Him in the right ways.

Creation

“…For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” ~Revelation 4:11

Spring Break!! It’s finally time for relaxation! What better way to start a break than to hit the open road! And when I say “open road” I mean Open Road! My drive from Lubbock to Graham is what seems like the longest drive in the world! There is absolutely nothing between here and there. There might be a couple of tiny towns, but if you blink, I promise you will miss them! But it is a great drive to take to just clear your mind!

Most of the land out here is flatter than flat, which makes since because most of the land is used for farming, and you can’t really farm up and down mountains! But there are occasionally a few drop downs, like being in a canyon that really change up the scenery! So on my way home I really began thinking about God’s creation and how everything is so unique and amazing! For each rock to be placed where it is, and each tree to be planted and grown in a place that no one takes time to care for, but it is still living amazes me!

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” ~ John 1:3

God has a purpose for everything he creates, whether it is people, or animals, or things on this earth, everything is important! But the important thing to remember is that He created them all. Without him, we would not exist and neither would this world! God has taken his time to place each thing on this earth by hand and has made each thing so unique.

I encourage you to take time to spend outside and surrounded by others, looking at everything God has created! Don’t let anything pass you up. It’s very easy to get into a routine, that when you pass the same things every day you don’t look at them differently or give them the time of day. That’s not only to say the things you pass like trees, flowers, mountains, and valleys should be noticed. But it also means people. Each person is just as unique and God is placing them in your path for a reason. So open your eyes and mind to the things going on around you and thank God for what he has surrounded you with!

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” ~ Colossians 1:15-17

Unity

This weekend was my sororities Spring Retreat. It’s the one time each semester that we are able to leave town as a group and be taken to a place where all distractions are removed. Friendships grow closer and God really moves through each girl. This, I feel, makes our group come together as one body and re energizes us and reminds us of what we are really in this organization for.

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ~ Romans 15:5-6

This is my sorority’s verse. It really does explain the importance of unity and why an organization like this exists. It seems easy to say that yes, if you are in a Christian sorority, organization, or attending church on a regular basis that you are able to come together as one with other Christian’s at least once or twice a week. But really, is that enough? And are you really coming together as one with everyone around you?

Look at the body as a whole. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 we read about what the body consist of. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body”…“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body…If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body” This explains the importance of all Christians coming together. Every single person is important and has different gifts and talents, but each person is required for Gods overall plan. There is not one part of the body that is more important than the next. So it is very important to come together with other believers and serve our God as one.

It’s just like in sports. In baseball if you are short a pitcher, you can’t play defense because you don’t have a full team. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” Think about what part of the body God has provided you with and see how you can use it when you are unified with others. I challenge you also to constantly become unified with other believers. A group of Christians brought together as one will accomplish more than a single Christian on their own.