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.”
