Drinking from the saucer is something I saw as I was growing up. I visited my grandparents often on their farm and was a frequent visitor on Sundays for lunch after church. When it was time for dessert the coffee pot would be placed on the table. My grandparent's cups would be in a saucer, really a shallow bowl. They would pour the hot coffee in their cups until it would almost be at the top, they would then begin to put spoonfuls of sugar in their cups and begin stirring. The sugar would be followed by cream, all of which was more than their cups could hold and the contents would flow over the sides and into the saucers below. They would then take their cups out, wipe them off and set them on the table, reach for the saucer and tip it up to their lips and drink the sweet creamy concoction that had overflowed their cup. As a child sometimes they would pass the saucer to me and that would be "my coffee". I remember how this would delight me, partly because it made me feel so grown up to be sitting at the table drinking coffee with all of the grown-ups and partly because I loved the sweet creamy brown stuff in the saucer. I'm sure this is what secured my love for coffee to this day!
The Lord has used this picture of drinking from the saucer often in my life. Once He pursues us and captures us, this Christian life is a constant sanctification process of becoming a vessel, a cup if you will, that He may pour into and overflow His life through. I am convicted how often I have not been a willing participant in this process. It is my choice to be a vessel that is open, sensitive, and receptive or one that is closed and calloused. Becoming thirsty and learning where to go to get filled is all a part also of this journey. When I am not receptive and callous I run to others and other things to get filled, they always leave me unsatisfied and feeling empty. I am convinced more than ever that the true marks of maturity in this Christian life are not being able to proclaim that; "I have learned this" or "I have this lesson down", all in the attempt to give the appearance that we have "arrived". But the true marks are that I recognize my need for Him, my Living Water, more quickly and that I run to Him more swiftly to fill me. Only before Him do I find the satisfaction my soul craves. The filling that is sweet and between Him and me, the intimacy of our relationship. What He uses in the those that are around me is the overflow, the splashes that come from a cup that is so filled to overflowing that the contents must spill over the sides. The sweet concoction that comes is Him, the sweetness of Him, and His fruit. It has nothing to do with me, in fact "I" mess the concoction up every time! My prayer must be; Lord, empty me of me and fill me to over-flowing, that the splashes of my life will be You and show me how to become a living drink offering as I walk the journey You have marked out for me.
