You Can’t Pour From an Empty Cup

While reading a devotion in Jesus Calling, I came across the term “drain out.” It was referring to when you feel drained by needy people. Unfortunately, in my life, those needy people are usually my kids. They don’t mean to be, but let’s be honest. If you are taking care of children…They are needy…And it is draining. I don’t want to feel that way. I even cringe at putting it out there, especially in print. However, I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, and I want all of you experiencing “drain out” to know that you are not alone. It doesn’t matter if your needy people are your children, coworkers, clients, or other family members. We all have them.

When we are drained, we are empty…and we’ve all heard the cliche, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Being drained and pouring out are two different things. Drained is negative, depleted, and lacking. Pouring is positive, fulfilling, and life-giving. Draining can be harmful, but pouring can be healing.  

And I NEED to be able to pour out of my cup and into my family. 

I need to pour love and kindness into them when they feel unloved. I need to pour forgiveness into them when they (or I) make mistakes. I need to pour strength into them when they are tired and weak. I need to pour comfort into them when they are hurting. I need to pour teaching into them when they need correction. 

When I am drained out, I don’t have anything positive to pour.

So how do we combat this drain out?

Often, we try to refill our own cups with less stressful activities. Maybe you get your nails done, exercise, read a book, or watch TV. All these things can take us out of the draining situation, but are they truly filling us with what we need?

We all need downtime, and the importance of self-care is true. But spiritual self-care has to come first. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting pampered or escaping from reality with a good book or show, but what really fills my cup is my Jesus Time. 

What’s Jesus Time? 

It’s kind of like self-care at God’s spa, but it’s free and always available.

My Jesus Time is simply my prayer time. It’s spending time in my day dedicated to God. During this time, I’m praising the Almighty, pouring out my heart, and listening to what He has to say (Next week, I’ll be going more in-depth about what this looks like in my life.). Having God fill my cup on a DAILY basis is essential to proactively keeping the drain out at bay, and there are also times we need to turn to God in prayer to reset (and refill) in the moments of our own weakness.

Jesus told us in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest for your souls.” Doesn’t that sound wonderful to our drained bodies, minds, and spirits?

It does to mine. 

In fact, I can FEEL the difference in my being when I skip my time with Jesus. Maybe not after a day, but I feel more and more unrest as time goes on without spending time with Him. My patience wanes. There are more worries and less peace. And I am reminded that we are not meant to walk through this life without Him.

Even Jesus was not meant to live here on Earth without turning to the Father for restoration. In several instances, the New Testament records Jesus going off by himself to pray after facing drain out from the neediness of the crowds (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16) or before making important decisions (Luke 6:12), and certainly to gain strength before His arrest and crucifixion (Matthew 26:36-39). In 2 Corinthians 1:4, Paul tells us that God “comforts us in all our troubles.” Then he goes on to tell us about the extreme despair he and his companions felt while on a mission in Asia (v. 8) and how they learned that they should “not rely on ourselves, but on God (v. 9).” 

God is there for us in the same way. He is already along on our journey, we just need to ask Him to fill our cups by spending time with Him daily. He gives us rest. He fills us with patience and peace, love and kindness, wisdom and strength, comfort and forgiveness…and so much more. We just have to take the time to spend with Him. To be filled. So we are ready to pour back into others with the love of Christ.

You CAN’T pour from an empty cup. But Jesus can fill it.