Overflow

An ancient Indian proverb says this: "Whatever you are overflowing with will spill out when you're bumped." 

I realized just how true that saying is within the past few weeks... 

picture from google images

I found out that I would be spending some time with a person who has aggravated me in the past, and who tends to rub me the wrong way. 

To put it another way: I was bumped. 

I picture a tall glass filled with some sort of liquid. The glass is a dark color, dark enough that you cannot see through it to see what is inside. How do you find out what it's filled with? 

It gets bumped. It gets shaken. It gets disturbed.

Whatever it is filled with comes out, spilling over the sides. 

I think the same happens to us when we are bumped, when we are annoyed, when we are aggravated... Whatever we are filled with tends to start coming out. 

I think of Matthew 12:33-35 (NIV), which says, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." 

The AMP version of verse 34 says this: "...For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks." 

Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. 

What is your heart full of? Because whatever it is filled with, that is what will come out when you're bumped. 

I realized how true that is over the past few weeks. Ouch. What a convicting realization. 

Because when I was bumped, it wasn't patience or kindness that spilled out. Instead, I spilled out impatience, and annoyance. 

Oh Father, forgive me. 

My prayer became that my heart would overflow with thanksgiving, love, and kindness... and that is still my prayer!! I know that the overflow of my heart should be God-honoring, and I know that I cannot change my heart on my own.. 

Father, mold me, shape me, and change me so that the overflow of my heart will be honoring to You. So that when I am bumped, love spills out. So that more than anything, I will be filled with You: Your Love and Your Light. 

I'm realizing and re-learning (again!) how important our hearts are, and how careful we need to be to guard them.

"Above all else, guard your heart, 
for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Out of the overflow of the heart... 

What does your heart overflow with? If you're not sure, just wait and see the next time you're "bumped" what comes out, and you might have your answer. 

I know I got mine, and what a convicting answer it was. 

Thank God for His forgiveness and His grace, and His willingness to help us, to shape us into His image-bearers, to not leave us where He found us. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6). Praise God! 

So may the overflow of our hearts be filled with God's love and kindness, and with thanksgiving, so much so that THAT is what spills out the next time we are bumped.

That is my prayer.