How poured out is too much?
Not that I've emptied myself. I run out of patience, time, energy, compassion, focus. But I've never run out of desire to do more. So there's always been some left at the end of the day.
And not that I've made any part of God's creation too salty, either. I do what I can to represent Him in care, love, discipline, and joy, but I'm pretty sure no one's avoided me because I might smother them with scripture or something. So I do what I can, but not all that I can.
When you pour water out of a pitcher, what happens to it? It depends, doesn't it? If you pour it onto the ground, it immediately disappears. But if you pour it into another container, it takes on that new shape.
I need to pour myself out into anonymity. What I do is not to be done for my own recognition. I like compliments. And I like getting results. But I hope that never drives what I do. That needs to be the sprinkles on the cupcake - not the cake itself.
And I need to pour myself into His mold - who He wants me to be. I am to become more like Christ daily, and how can that happen if I don't pour myself into it wholeheartedly? Move - translate - reformat - live as the "new creation" Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 5.
I guess my nagging fear is that I might pour too much and be the empty container trying to get out of bed each morning and living a hollow life. But God didn't make me a salt shaker. He made me the salt.
What good is salt if it never leaves the shaker? That last little granule might be just what's needed to make something as tasty as it was meant to be. I've got to be used up.
...but not exactly like this (although some parallels could be made, I'm sure):A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaignby Edgar Allan Poe (1850)
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