My cup overflows

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows"

Psalm 23 v 5

Have you ever thought about the type of blessing an 'overflowing cup' is?

It was one day that I was thinking how full on life was, so busy, so hectic, so many things to manage; thinking about how I seemed to have more in life than I could handle...

And the verse came to mind...'my cup overflows'.  REFRAME.  I was thinking about having 'too much' being a negative thing but the imagery of an overflowing cup suddenly made me realize God's generous blessing will look like that at times...

Messy

More than we can contain

Inconvenient

Can you imagine being at a restaurant and the waiter is pouring your wine (or grape juice if you prefer!) and he just keeps on pouring and pouring into your glass.  It is overflowing.  You are looking at him saying stop!  stop!  What are you doing?!  He just keeps smiling at you and pouring.

The wine is soaking into the white pristine tablecloth.  It is spilling onto your best outfit you reserve for special nights out.  Everyone is looking at you.  And the waiter keeps pouring. 

How would you feel?

A bit angry?

Embarrassed?

Concerned about your outfit?

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get so focused on the 'inconveniences' and disruption that can come from things that are a God-given blessing, I lose sight of the wonder of the blessings themselves.  Most blessings come with some work attached or discomfort.  Take a lovely new addition to your family, a new baby.  You will be woken up at night often and need to change many nappies.  You may not be able to work for awhile.  You might miss out on a few showers and have your hot drinks go cold. 

If you have children your house may get far messier and far more out of control than you thought was possible.

A meal with friends spontaneously dropping in out of town  over will produce dirty dishes and disruption to your schedule.

Get used to life being messy!  Embrace the overwhelm!  God is a generous God, and his generosity overflows!

When you are feeling like life is getting too much and feelings of oppression threaten, 'reframe'.  Focus on the God who loves us and is generous.  We might be tempted to think things are 'full on' because we are not very good at managing our own lives.  We might think things are very wrong because we should have mopped the floor yesterday.  That's what the accuser would have us think. 

Think, 'I am feeling like this situation is negative-  but the truth is that God overflows my cup with blessings and life will just look messy sometimes.  Are the things I am dealing with simply evidence of God's goodness to me?

It may just be a sign that your life is overflowing with blessings!

However crazy things look, there is a pattern in the madness, and this is it, "...we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God...". Romans 8 v 28.  He has control.  Trust him in the mess.  Look up into the eyes of the generous, smiling Father, who is cheerfully overflowing your cup with blessings!