I remember her determination. That’s what I remember the most. It was the first week of the new year, and my friend was, as my grandmother used to say, “bound and determined.” This year would be different. This year would be the year everything lined up straight, nothing stepping out of line. All her goals and plans would stand in resolute submission to her sheer determination to make everything right this year. This year she would make it work. This year she would be happy.
Later, I watched her scramble when things didn’t pan out quite right. Still, she worked at it with an admirable resolution. She crowded her days with new projects and plans that would surely quiet the empty feeling she was desperate to squelch. I’d seen the uncertainty in her eyes, the way her shoulders slumped when she couldn’t mend her ache. I could tell she was troubled by the ways her resolutions had failed her. There was more spending, more giving, more fixing, more talking, more organizing.
It was hard to watch.
No matter how much she poured into her life, no matter how determined she was to patch up what was broken, everything kept slipping out the cracks. Like a cup irreparably cracked, everything leaked out eventually. No matter how quickly she kept refilling her life with new things, every kind of remedy failed her. It all seeped out along with the dregs of hope she had staked her year upon.
She wasn’t the only empty cup I encountered last January. She was one of many people in my life who were medicating a deep ache with all the remedies the world promises will make us happy. Possessions, family, vacations, work, a well-ordered and well-maintained life.
We keep filling up our lives with things — good things even — but still find ourselves chest-deep in a yearning we can’t explain.
I know that ache. Oh, I know it well.
My heart has throbbed with the same reverberating reminder that what I yearn for can’t be answered with a gym membership, a new eating plan, a financial fix, obedient children, a charming husband, or a beautifully decorated home. Every turn of the calendar beckons us to try harder, to try more, to try new methods. Still we ache.
That ache is purposeful, though. It is for Jesus, and only Jesus can fill it. He doesn’t just fill the cup. He seals the cracks up tight.
Well actually, He gives us a whole new cup.
The redeeming work of Jesus doesn’t just patch up what’s broken. He makes us completely new. Jesus answers the yearning that calls out from the deep places of our hearts. We can try to tamp down the ache, feed it with things that will keep it quiet for now. But eventually, the cracks widen. The ache gets through. The remedies fail us.
What I offer to the people I love who are still seeking to patch up that empty, leaking cup usually echoes with the rich words of St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” I’ve learned those cracks won’t stay sealed until we hand over these empty cups of ours to the One who makes all things new. Those cracks will continue to widen and crawl along the edges of our heart until we’ve been given a new heart altogether.
With Paul,
I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17b-19)
No other solution will do because that yearning is there to be answered with the deep, wide, high, long love of Christ.
No more cracks, no more emptiness. We’re no longer empty because fixing our heart’s gaze on Jesus means we are filled with all the fullness of God. We are no longer leaking cups; we are overflowing.
Leave a Comment
Sarah Geringer says
Glenna, so happy to find you here this morning! I love the St. Augustine quote you shared. So true and fitting for the new year. Since you and I are both SEMO gals, I’d love to meet up with you sometime and talk about writing and ministry. Happy New Year to you!
Glenna Marshall says
Absolutely, we must!! I would love that!
Anastasia Corbin says
Yes! So thankful that Jesus makes us completely new. Thanks for sharing this devotional.
Glenna Marshall says
I need this reminder daily!
Melody says
So appreciated your words this morning Glenna. Even though we’ve known Jesus for quite a few years, we still leak in our humanness, I believe. Sadly, especially this time of year we can so easily let family, activities, distract from the real Source of our joy and peace and begin to feel the ache again…. but Jesus gives the promise that his mercies are new every morning, great is his faithfulness. How I need to keep turning to him to refill my aching vessel. And he is there.
Trina Rich says
Thank you, Glenna, for reminding me that it is only through Jesus we find hope and deliverance from our daily grasping for more. Have a blessed New Year!
Glenna Marshall says
Yes! Happy New Year to you, as well!
Michelle says
I love this. It is in line with the desire of my heart to fill up on Jesus this year, and overflow from there. This was beautifully written and very timely.
Glenna Marshall says
I love your desire for the new year! I believe the Lord will richly fulfill that desire.
Deanna Bartlett says
So true!!!
Glenna Marshall says
Thank you!
Penny says
This was refreshing , thank-you Glenna. Happy New Year.
Blessings all,
Penny
Glenna Marshall says
Thank you, Penny! ❤️
Kate says
Thanks for sharing! This lines up well with my study this am of Colossians 3:2 and keeping my mind on things above. I’m coming off a blessed holiday season, yet my mind was too focused on things of this Earth. How Encouraging this am to remember I have a new cup to drink richly and abundantly of Jesus each day -that cup directs me and fills me on things above.
Glenna Marshall says
I love that passage from Colossians. Sugar a good reset for our minds and hearts as we step into a new year!
Susan Zanone at My Creators Lens says
Beautiful! I, too, have felt the emptiness of chasing this world and found the fullness of abiding in Jesus. Thank you for being tuned in to His voice and speaking His truths. Through voices like yours, more will come to know our Savior.
Glenna Marshall says
Thank you for it your encouragement! That is 100% my goal—to make Him known!
Nancy says
This has blessed me, Glenna. As a widow, New Year’s is difficult for me as it represents beginning another year without my husband. A reminder to rest in Him. Thank you.
Glenna Marshall says
I’m praying for you, Nancy. How difficult it must be to face another year without your husband. I pray the Lord overwhelms you with the peace and comfort that only His Presence gives. ❤️
Rebecca L Jones says
How many times do we hear the New Years promises of a whole new your? Jesus can deliver where others fail.
Glenna Marshall says
Yes, exactly!!
Summer Rae says
Miss Glenna,
Amen, amen, AMEN!!! Thank you for sharing your heart with us today. This was encouraging and inspiring and truly lifted my spirit… no words can accurately described how deeply this touched my heart. I clearly heard God’s voice and love through your words. Thank you again. I pray you, and your family, have a blessed day (and new year)!
This side of Heaven,
Summer Rae
Glenna Marshall says
Im so grateful the Lord has encouraged you through this! I pray that you know the fullness of His love and presence this year. ❤️
Bekah says
Thank you, Glenna, for sharing this well-timed reminder! As a college gal, I’m tempted to buy into the world’s lies that as soon as I have a career I love, or a husband and family, or a beautiful home, all of my insecurities will magically disappear. It’s a good reminder to hear that happiness is not found in attaining those things: that deep yearning is met in Christ alone. I’m looking forward to a year of placing my hopes and desires at His feet and letting Him fill and renew me. What a joy it is to know that the fulfillment we seek is found in His open arms, not in the shifting ideals around us!
Glenna says
I love your perspective, Bekah! You have it exactly right: our deep yearning is met in Christ alone.
Terri Conlin says
Glenna,
Ooooh, I can relate to your friend and your grandma. I’ve been known to be “bound and determined”. It’s that bound part, that holds us too fast, I think.
Thanks for the fresh thoughts. Happy New Year!
Terri
Glenna says
Thank you, Terri!
Jenny says
Beautiful Glenna – and oh so true for all of us! Happy New Year from Seattle 🙂
Glenna says
Thanks, Jenny!! And to you as well!
Beth Williams says
Glenna,
We all have an ache. The world says buy more, do more, achieve more & you will be happy. Not so!! We all yearn for a different home. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. This world has gotten almost like Sodom & Gomorrah with everyone doing as they please. Yes-I’m ready for Christ to come back & take us to our real home with Him!! To heal your aching souls I suggest getting into God’s word, doing ministry-helping others, etc. That will change your perspective.
Blessings 🙂
Glenna says
I totally agree! Knowing Christ through His Word is the way to fill that ache. We were made to yearn for Him, and only He can satisfy our heart’s desires.