What’s in the Cup?

By: Connie Hale   

Have you ever had weeks that are like the perfect storm, where things converge from all directions all at one time? There are meetings to attend, appointments to keep, lessons to prepare, family issues to solve, repairs on the car, and even the dog is nipping at your heels. Being so busy with the tasks at hand can make it hard to see God’s imprint on the journey of our life.

I began to understand the importance of time when my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer,  which eventually spread to the liver and lung. When you are fighting cancer you do not think in terms of years — you begin to cherish moments. The things I thought were important before cancer aren’t nearly as important now. I still have tasks at home and in the ministry but it’s not the task I focus on now as much as the people that surround me.

Jesus came to save the lost by dying on the cross but on the journey to the cross he took time for hurting people. Jesus took time to look into a woman’s eyes and see her emptiness. Then he filled her heart with a love that five husbands never gave her. He hugged children and made them feel special. He stopped to touch a leper and gave him back his self-worth. He saw a helpless man beside a pool and delivered him from his infirmity. A message written in the sand and a pointed question gave an adulterous woman back her life. Today, Jesus comes to comfort a woman in the night as she prays for her husband to be healed of cancer.

Jesus shows me how to be a cup bearer along my journey, how to stop and give a drink of God’s love and compassion to all who are thirsty. As a follower of Jesus, I must go to the well of God’s grace and mercy and draw out living water in order to pour His blessings on others. I must take the time to fill my soul with His presence or all I’ll have to offer is an empty cup clanging in the wind.

One of those cup-filling moments happened during the summer when my husband Tom and I went ‘tailgating.’ We went to Canadian Tire and grabbed a hotdog and a pop. We put the tailgate down on our jeep and just sat there in the parking lot enjoying our hotdogs, watching people go by. A simple hot dog, a sunny day and just being together created a sacred thing. An ordinary thing appreciated in an extraordinary way makes time and life sacred. I never cherished time before the diagnosis of cancer. I knew time was important to complete a task, to reach a goal, to finish a project, but I never stopped to embrace this thing called time. I just used it up.

Too often, I’ve put off something that brings joy and fills my cup because it wasn’t on my schedule or it didn’t fit into my ministry. How many opportunities have I missed for valuable family time because I was busy ministering, attending a meeting, or unveiling a new project? What about the other cup filling times we miss when we don’t say, “I love you” to aging parents, or to our grown children, spouses and friends? The thoughts of love are there. They run through our hearts but our lips don’t express them.

Sitting in a hospital listening to beeping machines, watching computerized displays and tubes delivering chemotherapy to tired, courageous people, I began to understand how frail life is. As my husband bravely sits and receives his treatment, I wipe his forehead with a cold cloth, hold his hand and give him a cup of water. These are only small gestures of love but that is all I have.

From this devastating experience of chemotherapy I’ve learned that small sips of water make a tremendous difference. Take the time to send that encouraging letter or email. Make that phone call of concern. Deliver a bowl of chicken noodle soup to a neighbor who is sick. Hold someone’s hand and look deeply into their eyes. These gifts of mercy say, “I care about you.” People just want to know that we care as they sip living water from our cups.

My husband and I are learning to embrace the time we have together and value every moment. Responsibilities and ministries need to be balanced so that we will have no regrets when we leave this earth. We want to leave saying, “We drank until we were full and had some left to fill the ‘cup of need’ in others.”

I’m learning how to be a ‘cup bearer.’ I am the woman at the well waiting for Him to fill me so I can pour out His love on my family, my friends, and the people I minister to. I’m learning that time is precious and we must enjoy the moment, not fearing the years ahead. I’m learning to say the words “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you” and really mean them, because time doesn’t wait for anyone. Sorrow has caused some tears to fall into my cup and yet laughter causes me to spill out joy from that same cup. And when I am empty of ‘hope’ God always sends someone to fill me up again.

 I believe life is about giving. We must all learn to be ‘cup bearers’ of the hope, joy, and love given freely to us from the Saviour’s hand.

“For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Mark 9:41(NKJV)