{Be Real} Empty Pitchers

I grip the handle of the pitcher, a gift from my sweet cousin after her visit as a thank you for our hospitality. It reads simply, “Grace and gratitude.” I traced the design of the wheat, the dot pattern, and each letter, as if trying to remember. That day, I felt neither gracious nor grateful.

How can gratitude seem so elusive in some seasons?

When had I started to wallow in discontent, always wanting something I couldn’t have?

This discontent I felt wasn’t like me. It was the frustration of a season when I seemingly couldn’t be the woman I wanted to be no matter how hard I tried, and meanwhile missing being with people I love…it left me feeling like the pitcher, empty. Of both grace and gratitude.

Then one day, I prayed a prayer that put God on the line. “Show me that you love me, God. I know this is crazy – but if you do this – I’ll know.” Text messages poured in from friends, phone calls, praying for strength and courage – and I knew it was God’s grace washing over me that day. I knew He saw me, saw that I needed Him.

He started filling me with gratitude the moment that I laid my soul bare, and said, God, I need you. I’m looking for you. It always starts with changing our perspective.

The question is, do we really want to see? Do we want to see that God is for us?

It’s easier to live life feeling like we have to fight, rather than surrender. To whatever His hand chooses to give.

Sometimes, what He gives doesn’t feel like enough. We feel like the pitcher, empty. And as humans, the truth is, sometimes we are. We can be fragile and broken and cracked.

“We hold this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the all-surpassing power is of God and not of us.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7

But God looks for empty pitchers. He looks for people who need Him – so that He can fill all the cracks and empty places. With His grace.

Our cracks are the spaces where grace enters and gratitude grows.

Having gratitude first starts with having eyes that see grace. The free and unmerited favor of God.

God isn’t a God who holds back from us. He has always given to us freely! He emptied heaven on the cross to pour out all His love and redemption and grace. And His grace comes to us in a thousand ways every day. But we turn our eyes away from His gifts and His grace. And He whispers, come back to my heart. Remember who I am. Taste and see.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusts in Him.”
-Psalm 34:8

“Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 9:24

Just trace the lines over your life, to where the grace of God has come in and washed over you. Trace it back, and remember.

Remember the teary nights when joy came in the morning. Remember the answered prayers, the days you received encouraging words at just the right moment. Remember the times God came through for you in secret in ways that only you and Him will know. Trace His grace and His relentless love that has pursued, pursued, pursued after your heart.

Then, write them all down. Write a list of all of the ways God has loved you. Count His gifts – count them like your life depends on it. Because it does.

Gratitude isn’t just a pretty word, like a filter we use on Instagram to make ourselves feel that our life is better than it is.

Gratitude is a hard practice, a real strategy. A strategy to save us every day, whenever we are sliding into a pit. And it’s whenever we feel we don’t have something to be grateful for that we need to start remembering. It’s counterintuitive. And it’s upside down just like Jesus and His kingdom.

We can choose to fill with grace and pour out gratitude even when we feel empty.

Have you had a season where you haven’t been particularly grateful? We can repent of this, together. Right where we are. Repent. I’m sorry, God. Unveil my eyes. Help me to see you.

At the Pursuit Conference this year, Jessi Connolly said that repentance is “changing our mind toward the will of God.” And when it comes to thanksgiving, God’s will is startlingly simple:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – 1 Thess. 5:16-18

Pouring out gratitude is a daily choice that unveils our eyes to the deeper truth. We are not empty – and actually, a connection with the God who created the heavens and the earth, and ALL of His fullness is available to us, anytime, anywhere. This God isn’t just a little bit for us – He’s 100% for us. We are loved more than we know. We are more full than we feel. And He is always, always with us.

This amazing grace of all this is enough to make the heart sing. The song that fills our lungs again with the simplest and deepest of songs. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

-Psalm 103:2-5