I don’t know about you.. but this metaphor of hot chocolate is just reallllllllly working for me!! (If you haven't seen it, check the previous post:(Slideshow)The Wisdom in Hot Chocolate)
The center of it all.. our life… filled up and overflowing with that which comes straight from the hot chocolate maker!!
This is abundant life...abundance coming from HIM… flowing in… warming our cup… smelling so good… Tasting so good… so satisfying!!! HOT CHOCOLATE... or LIVING WATER!
You know what else? It is making me think about what it is like if we aren’t tapped into the hot chocolate brewer, God. Our cup may be empty and we may never have tasted how good the living water-- the hot chocolate--the life IS that God pours in. Our cup may be filled with other stuff, but something is missing. OR… if we have been tapped into the hot chocolate maker but then sort of misplaced Him (God)and haven’t been so tapped in because we've been busy---well then our hot chocolate can get cold. It may start to smell funny. It may no longer warm our cup so much. It doesn't even taste so good. Our cup may get emptier. Honestly… that second one fits for me.
Let me tell you-- I have before--I don’t have it all together. But I can tell you this:
I came to love God when I was about six… and loved growing in knowing him. And when hard times hit in my twenties, God made me very thirsty for more of Him. I drank deep of the hot chocolate. He filled me up and I totally overflowed. I had sooooo much time for reading, praying, drinking and being filled. He was my comforter, my rock, my healer, lifter of my head. My cup overflowed.
And then after I got married in my thirties... I didn’t mean for it to happen but to quote Crystal Dupay from Main Street Mom "Raising children, taking care of a home and a husband...overwhelmed us (me) to the point that we (I) began to sacrifice our (my)most important relationship. The one with God." I kept thinking.. it is just a season, God... I will have more time to study and grow later. But in sleep deprivation, stress and managing responsibilities what jostled out of my cup didn’t always smell or taste so good. My hot chocolate was getting emptier and colder. I prayed a lot… and I felt urgings to read my bible to keep growing...to really tap in. I tasted the yucky growing colder chocolate… and missed the good one. I realized my relationship was coasting... and that isn't good for any relationship,is it? And when I started to get back .. finding new and more flexible ways to spend time throughout the day reading, playing CDs.. enjoying God… I realized how much I MISSED GOD. It isn’t an obligation to be close to Him… It is the best thing ever.. My cup is full and warm again. God wants our cup to be full... to have life and life to the full.
This is life and life to the full.. filled up and overflowing in the inside. Make time… find time… enjoy Him. If you never have… find Him. His hot chocolate is the best! Ask Him to make you thirsty. You know how a couple who has been married a long time become like each other in how they act or look? That is how it is with time with God. When we walk with Him, day by day, little by little His will becomes ours, we become like Him. We become filled up with joy,… patience… goodness.. kindness.. abundance that comes from Him. I urge you...drink deep… get full.
