Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Have you ever described yourself – or someone else – as one who sees a glass either half-full or half-empty? It’s an easy way of describing someone who tends to be either optimistic or pessimistic in their outlook on life. For Winnie-the-Pooh readers or viewers, calling someone a Tigger or an Eeyore conveys the same meaning.
Have you ever wondered how Jesus would answer the question as to whether the glass was half-full or half-empty? Thinking about His conversations that are recorded in the Bible, it seems to me that He often answered a question by asking a question, so I suspect that’s what he would have done. But I’m not sure what that question would be!
Probably something unexpected, something that helped the listeners see something new and true.
Strolling through a small town’s city center this past week we came upon a blackboard easel on the sidewalk, with the following tweak to the well-worn glass idiom:
“People who wonder whether the glass is half empty or half full are missing the point. The glass is REFILLABLE.”
I like that!
No matter how Jesus would describe the glass’s contents, I know for certain that He is the one that fills and refills our lives with good things, with the best things. What I want to do is ask for eyes to see what He’s doing, and a heart to quickly thank Him.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalm 107:8-8 NIV)
And along with David in Psalm 23 we can say, “my cup overflows.”
As we walk into this brand-new week, all of us Tiggers and Eeyores and other personalities can confidently repeat the psalm’s grand finale:
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.