Message in a Glass

This morning, I sat in the kitchen rocker drinking my carrot juice and gazing out the window at the trees. An undefined restlessness settled over me. One more day on planet earth. Ugh! As I tipped my glass, the foamy residue cleared to form a heart on the bottom. I studied the shape. The more I drank, the larger the heart became. I smiled at the image. God’s tiny wake up call.

Remember my purpose for you today, Eileen. To share Me with others. The more you drink of My love, the more it will spill over into others’ lives. Your family. The boys you teach. The writing I’ve placed on your heart. The people I’ve called you to pray for. Those surprise encounters I bring your way on this brand, new day.

Glass emptied, but heart full, I rose and dashed downstairs to open my Bible to Ephesians 3:14-19.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (NIV).

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and my mother’s prayer for her family. As a child, I often crept by her bedroom door to find her kneeling, praying to the Father. Her chief desire was that each one of her children be filled with the love of Christ.

As I reflected on the message in the glass, reinforced by Paul’s words in Ephesians and the memory of a mother who prayed those words, I asked the Lord to enlarge my heart. To wean me from the need to be satisfied with anything but Him.

The message in a glass: one more day to share His love. What a calling and what a privilege!  

~~

Eileen Rife, author of Laughing with Lily, speaks to women’s groups, encouraging them to discover who they are in Christ and what part they play in His amazing story. www.eileenrife.com, www.eileen-rife.blogspot.com, www.guardyourmarriage.com.