There might be many uses for an empty bucket. Children fill it with sand. Farmers fill it with feed. You can clean things in it. You can store things in it. There are probably thousands of uses for an empty bucket, but the one thing you can’t do with it – is pour out of it! Think about it – You can’t pour from an empty bucket!
So often we get so busy “doing stuff” in our lives that we start running on empty. It may be too many after-school activities, such as practices and ballgames. It may be that our job is stressful and we’re putting everything we’ve got into it. It could even be that we’ve got so many “church activities” going on, that we’re never home a single night of the week. Yes, too much of a good thing isn’t necessarily a good thing. There are times that we need to take the time to replenish and refill our buckets.
Jesus worked tirelessly, teaching and healing, but He often, “withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:16) Mark 1:35 says that “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” He knew that He needed a “fill-up” so to speak, and the only place to get it is from God. He got up early in the morning to speak with His Father, and “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God” (Luke 6:12) Whenever the crowds got to be too much, He took some time to get away and regroup. After preaching all day in Mark 4, when evening came, He and His apostles sent the multitude away and got in a boat to cross over the Sea of Galilee. He must have been exhausted because He literally slept through a storm! Have you ever been that tired?
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time saying, “No,” when I’m asked to do something. But we need to realize that we can’t take care of others, if we don’t take care of ourselves first. We must realize that we can’t do everything for everybody all the time. My prayer for you tonight is that you take the time to take care of your physical, mental, and spiritual needs, so that you can be that “guiding light” for Christ. God Bless, Courtney
S0 true!!