Day 321: Half Empty or Half Full

1 Timothy 6:6

But Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Philippians 4:11

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

Philippians 4:11 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

Is the glass half empty or half full? That’s a question that I have been asking myself a lot this past year. I had to learn that it was all about perspective. How I view things, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I will thank and praise God for all He’s done rather than focus on what is going wrong in my life. I’ve learned to realize that no matter what is going on, God has blessed me so much that if He never blesses me again, I’ll be fine.

That’s what I want to talk about today because I believe that how we see our lives has a lot to do with how content we are. Our contentment has to do with our relationship with God. See, God brings all type of fulfillment, He completes us. He gives us breath in our body everyday and gives us a reason to go on. When we live in that truth when we live knowing that God has done more for us than we could ever imagine already we will find ourselves being content with where we are.

I love that Paul points out that Godliness along with contentment is what brings great gain. Before that he says, that to some people a show of Godliness is just a means of gaining wealth, but the combination of Godliness and contentment is something else. When we are live a righteous life according to God and His word that brings contentment, but when we are content in that, that’s what brings great gain. We cannot just say that we are content because we want to gain something from God He knows our hearts and He knows when they are fraudulent. There’s something about being where we are and being okay with that that allows us to really dig into our relationship with God.

Going back to glass being half empty or half full, we may not have everything we’ve ever wanted or desire but we have enough and we should be good with that. I know it’s hard sometimes, I know we struggle and sometimes are hard to get through but in our darkest and lowest moments we must understand that God still gave us life, we are still here and that’s a reason to be content. Although we want things out of life, we all have things that we dream of and God has those in His hands, but we must trust in His plan and His timing and know that it will come when He wants it to come. BUt until then we will be content with where we are and where He has us. By constantly seeking gain or having more we are saying that what we have is not enough. Where God has us is not good enough, what He’s done is not enough. When something is empty or we view it as empty we are constantly trying to fill it. BUt if we view it as half full we are content. We could use a little more and maybe we want a little more, but if that doesn’t happen we are okay with what we have.

Sometimes we are so focused on getting to next place and getting more than we already have that we miss God. We are overlooking what God is doing right now because we are so concerned with what He is going to do or what we want to do. I challenge you to be content, trust in God and His plan. Be thankful for what you have and where you are right now and watch how God works in your life. Don’t be so focused on the future that we miss out on the present. It’s a gift and we only have it for a moment, don’t let it slip away.

All this to say, with God the glass is always half full. Then He will make it overflow, keep trusting Him.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we talked about today. Have a conversation with God about being content. Whatever is on your heart, talk to Him about. Take this time to just pray and talk to God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 322!

Day 137: How Are You?

Ecclesiastes 3:4

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

“Hello, How are you?”

“I’m good, and you?”

“I’m great, thanks for asking.”

This conversation or set of statements look familiar to you? We go through these statement on a daily basis. Without really thinking about it; it has become second nature to already have a prepared answer when asked how we are doing. Usually, the answer is, “good”, “great”, “fine”, and on a rare occasion we might get an “okay”, Rarely do we tell people how we are actually doing, not even our closest friends.

“How are you?” has become another way of saying hello, instead of a real concern. I’m not saying that we are not concerned with how others are doing, I’m saying that the question “how are you?’ does not mean how are you anymore. It means hello. Many times we already know what people are going to say when we ask and we know what to say when we are asked. But I have a question, if God asked us how we were doing, what would we say? Would we be honest with Him about everything going on with us, or would we tell Him that we are “fine” or good?

Now to take it a step further, sometimes we say fine when everything is falling apart, we say well when we are doing terrible, and we say okay as a cry for help. This may not be true for everyone, but I know it is true for many of us. We talked before about how there are many people walking around broken and if we just take the time to pray for them or with them, they will experience God’s healing. We talk about how we can save a life just by checking in on someone. Now what about ourselves, what about when we are walking around broken. Many of us are walking around broken but ignoring our feelings. We must stop this and take care of ourselves.  We often believe in healing from God for others, but why is it so hard to believe for ourselves? Why is it so hard to pray for ourselves? Why is it so hard to check in with ourselves when we are falling apart? Why do we cover up our own pain? We are not helpful to anyone else if we are at the bottom of the pit ourselves. It reminds me of when I’m having a bad day and I’m sure most of us have experienced this. I can walk around falling apart on the inside, but I’m holding it together on the outside, barely, but I’m holding it together. The moment someone asks if I’m okay, everything comes pouring out. We hold things in until we cannot hold it anymore then it all comes storming out of us. We hold too much in and we become like a ticking time bomb, all it takes is for someone to press the right button and we will explode all over the place. My friends, this is not how we are destined to live, we serve a God who works around the clock, giving us twenty-four-hour service. We can come to Him at any time of day or night and He will be there. We do not have to harbor the pain we go through. We do not have to silence our struggles or whatever it is we are going through. We do not have to suppress our emotions, it is okay. God is here for us.

We neglect ourselves too often, sometimes we have to sit back and consider how we are actually doing. What’s going on inside us, check in on our soul, see how everything is going. We all want to be selfless, but that does not mean that we neglect ourselves to do so, it does not mean that we forget about our own feelings. Sometimes we just have to stop and pray for ourselves, sometimes we have to cover ourselves. Sometimes we have to give ourselves some “me time”. It is necessary, please don’t neglect or overlook yourself, it’s not a healthy way to live.

Reflection

1. How are you doing?
2. Really, how are you doing?
3. If God asked you how you were doing right now, what would you say?
   
   

Prayer Time

Take the time today to check in with yourself, search your heart. Bring it to God. Pray for yourself today, you know what you need to pray for yourself, lift yourself up in prayer today.

I love you, and I pray you have an amazing day or evening. Take care of yourself today. Share this with someone and be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 138! Enjoy you day!!!