Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Feeling Like a Chipped Teacup? There's Hope! Psalm 103:4





My parents were coffee drinkers extraordinaire. The pot was on before 5 am every morning and didn’t get turned off until late in the evening, sometimes midnight. My dad kept his mug, a thick café style white one, on the pilot light of the gas stove-top to keep it warm. He hated putting steaming hot coffee in a cold mug.

I still have most of their coffee mugs. Some are from special restaurants, others from Mother’s Days gone by. Some have funny sayings. As I look into the cabinet I have memories that pour out of them. Good memories. From the “coffee” I drank as a little girl, mostly cream and sugar, but warm and light brown, to the “don’t you dare wash my cup” from my daddy, well into his 80’s. Life revolved around the coffee pot.

People would come and visit and drink from the pot. I never remember my parents discussing running out of coffee. I think it was a given that come what may, coffee would be there. Some of the cups were cheap discount store buys but they hold such precious memories that their value is great to me.

Some folks like fine china cups. They’re beautiful but oh so delicate. One wrong tip on the kitchen sink and it’s chipped. Careful in the dishwasher, all the beauty can come off in the heat of the interior washing. I prefer a sturdy mug - strong, holding the heat, warming your hands in the winter without burning them.

Life is a lot like a china cup. It looks so beautiful starting out. Life is good. Beginning of life. Beginning of marriage. First babies. So delicate, so pristine, so good to look at. But things get chipped. The hot water of life’s troubles washes away at the delicate beauty of first love, first life and first family. Pretty soon we lose a handle on things and if we’re not careful the first loves will be discarded like just some trash. After all it’s no good if there’s no handle, if it’s chipped or if it won’t hold the concoction it was meant for.

Oh beloved, God wants you to know this morning that your life may feel like a chipped teacup, but He is the Restorer. Life may have run hot and cold for you, but He will always carry you in the warmth of His love. Always. Broken lives, broken hearts, broken dreams all seem to be just so much trash in the basket of life, but God is the glue that will put it all back together and hold you together no matter what happens in the coldness or harshness of your days.

Why don’t you get out your favorite cup and have a fellowship with Jesus. He wants to sit with you and express His love and care in ways you can only imagine. People come and people go, problems rise and fall like the sunrise and sunset, but the Lord Himself will sit with you, guide you, express His love to you and care for you the rest of your days. And that’s worth sitting at His feet any and every day.

Psalm 39:4 Lord, make me to know my end and [to appreciate] the measure of my days—what it is; let me know and realize how frail I am [how transient is my stay here]. AMP

Psalm 34:22 But the LORD will redeem those who serve Him. No one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned.

Psalm 103:4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

Revelation 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 

Psalm 63:8 I cling to You; Your strong right hand holds me securely.

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