We Serve a God Who is Able to Fill Our Empty Pots

by Dot Killian

My great aunt Mamie loved to plant flowers in the yard and grow houseplants. She would set out pots around the yard to catch rain water for her houseplants. As a child, it seemed silly to me to set pots out and wait for it to rain when you could simply use the water from the faucet. But my Aunt Mamie insisted that the rain water was much better for the houseplants than water from the faucet. Just look at the plants in the yard. Look at the trees. They are watered by the rain that comes from God. (That was before the rain was polluted with chemicals of every kind).

Maybe Aunt Mamie was right.

We come before God as empty pots needing to be filled. Some of us need to be filled with improved health, physical, mental and spiritual. Some of us need our pots filled with financial well being; some of us need our pots filled with better relationships with our children or our spouses or our parents, or our neighbors; all of us need our pots filled with the love and peace of Jesus Christ.

The good news of the gospel church is that whatever our need, no matter how trivial, no matter how great the need, we serve a God who is able to fill our empty pots.

In the gospel of John, John 2:1-12, Jesus seemed indifferent to his Mother when she told him there was no more wine for the wedding guests. His response to her seems rude and abrupt. We get the sense that Jesus will have nothing to do with whether the wedding guests have enough wine.

That is how we feel sometimes when we pray. We wonder whether God is listening to us. We wonder whether our prayers are too self-centered. We wonder whether we are praying for the wrong things. We wonder whether we are using the right words.

We learn that Jesus Christ operates in his own time. Although Jesus told his Mother his hour had not yet come, meaning it was not yet time for him to reveal his glory, he did what she asked anyway. Jesus turned the water in the pots to wine of exceptionally high quality.

So, we can have assurance that our prayers are heard. We can have assurance that even though the answer may be a long time coming, and sometimes the answer may not be the answer we had hoped for, we know Christ will be present with us through every adversity, through every struggle, through every challenge.

Having enough wine was significant for the bridegroom. It was significant because of the cultural and religious customs of the day. The wedding feast lasted seven days and the bridegroom was responsible for the food and wine for the wedding guests. The bridegroom would have been ridiculed and considered a social outcast had he not been able to provide enough food and wine for the entire week of festivities. So, for the bridegroom, this was an important challenge. This may not be our challenge. Our pots may be filled to the brim with wine but we feel empty. We are invited to fill our pots and most importantly, our hearts, with the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ who comes and abides in us and gives us the power to persevere.

I don't set out pots to catch rain water for my houseplants. I water them with water from the faucet and sometimes bottled water. They are not as vibrant and beautiful as my Aunt Mamie's, but they grow and provide joy in the space they are in.

May your pots be filled with joy and love today and always!
Blessings,
Dot