One of our teachers in my grad school, held up a water bottle and asked “Is this bottle half-empty, or half-full?” We muttered our answers under our breath, actually just loud enough to be considered participation, and soft enough as to not be called out.  Then our prof said, “Actually, it does not matter, it is refillable.” And he proceeded in explaining that sometimes, we feel like we need to give answers depending on the limited choices we were given.

And it got me thinking about whether we tend to do that. To feel limited by what we think we are given. To feel like we are half empty or half full. Forgetting that we are refillable. Forgetting that we can actually rest. We can be refreshed. And that we can be filled again.

And you know how we respond to the nagging fear of being in lack? We refuse to love. And we are reluctant to give. Because somehow, we fear that we will not just be half-empty, but be zeroed out eventually.  And what do we give by then?

Beloved, here’s a reminder for you and me.  In John 4:14, Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life”.

Isn’t that reassuring?  And here’s some practical steps you can do if you feel like you are “half-empty”.  

Rest. Do this by spending time with the Lord through prayer or reading the Bible. Jesus said in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest”.

Refresh and be refreshed by others. It means, try spending time with people that refresh you, and ask yourself, how you can also refresh them.  Proverbs 11:25 says whoever refreshes others will also be refreshed.

Refill.  Be filled again by truly reflecting how you are deeply loved by Christ. This alone is enough to fill anyone who is in Christ. In Ephesians 3, Paul proclaims the following prayer:

 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

So beloved, are you half-empty or half-full? It doesn’t matter. You are refillable.