I would like a large cup of refreshment please.

Dictionary.com defines the word refresh as providing new vigor and energy, to make fresh again, reinvigorate or cheer and to stimulate.

Would you like to find new vigor and energy?  To be reinvigorated, stimulated and cheered?

Oh, what a wonderful Wednesday gift that would be.

No matter how tasty of a beverage one orders, it just never seems to go very far or last very long.  A cup of coffee today is not going to last one through an entire month.  A nice strawberry lemonade will not quench the thirst of an entire warm summer.

You know the same is true with other things in life.  My primary love language is words of affirmation.  It’s primary by a LONG spread.  I love cards, letters, voice mails, emails, facebook messages and text messages of encouragement.  I love phone calls and conversations.  I love getting them.  I love storing them.  I love archiving them.  I love rereading them.  I savor them.  I treasure them.

If you are wondering how to love me, its through words.  Doesn’t even have to be anything big.  Just a little goes a long way.

Now, as much as I love being the recipient of these awesome gifts, it seems that giving them out is a much more humbling and encouraging experience.  The joyful impact also seems to have a much longer lasting effect as well.  It can be amazing what personal experiences can do to really make the words of wisdom in the Bible come to life.

“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”  Proverbs 11:25 (NIV).

Find refreshment by refreshing others.  Pour love on others and you can’t help but get it splashed on you as well.

Do you know what is really awesome and really amazing?  Because of our absolutely unique combination of gifts and talents, we each have our own blend of refreshment to offer others.

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  As we commune and walk with God, as seeds are planted, buds blossom and fruit ripens we become equipped to make some absolutely amazing and refreshing spiritual fruit smoothies.  These crazy blended concoctions made of who were are, where we have been and what God has done in our lives.  Each day we get to pour ourselves into the cups of others and serve them the best that we can.

My flavor of refreshment will certainly taste differently than yours.  But different, does not mean it’s bad.  It just means it is not the same.  It’s variety, which if I remember the old adage correctly, variety is the spice of life.  Plus, if I’m facing the truth, not everyone is going like my blend of refreshment.  Some may consider it blah or even gross.  So what. That should not stop me from pouring out what I have.

Here’s what’s really cool, as I grow and experience more in life.  My flavor will change and evolve.  I will try new things, some that will work well, some that will be okay and some that will not work.  They will all impact how I will be able to refresh others.  Which means that there will also come a new refreshment for me too.

Where you are right now, my dear reader, you have some absolutely incredible refreshment to offer.  You have people in your life right now today who need that refreshment.  I would bet that you don’t even have to look very far to find them.  Look up from whatever device you are on right now, who do you see?  Do you think they could use a little refreshment?  Are you alone at the moment, look through your contact lists in your phone, computer or tablet.  Do you see anyone who may need a little refreshment?

What about you?  Are you feeling low, blue, anxious, nervous, tired, worn out, exhausted, spent, frustrated?  Could you use a little refreshment?

Well, if you have gotten to this point.  Allow me to serve you a large cup of refreshment.

My dear, you are precious.  You are so amazing.  You are a miracle and most moments of most days you don’t even realize it.  The world would be so much less without you in it.  You are a priceless treasure, not because you are without value, but because your value is so high, so special, that there is no comparison from which to reach a price.

You may feel like one of a billion similar people, doing mundane tasks in a routine day.  But, this day the glorious Lord of all of creation has space set aside just for you in His book of life.  He is especially fond of you.  He loves you so much.  He knows all of you because He wove you into being.  He did not order You from a catalog or find you as a best deal of the day on Amazon.  The Lord, who is bigger than time, made the time to weave you together, tending gently to the tiniest bit of your DNA.

That same Lord divinely positioned you in this time and this place for an incredible purpose, not just for the act of a single day but for the string of days that will make up your lifetime.  Each day being filled with such significance.

You impact and make an indelible impression upon more people than you can even imagine.  Those people who have come and gone through your life.  You have blessed them with memories and moments.  Just because you don’t see them each and every day, doesn’t mean that they do not smile when they think of you.  None of us can possibly stay in touch with everyone we have ever met, nor would we probably want to.  So when we do catch up with a friend or family member, savor it.  Know that the person sitting across from you is probably doing the same thing.

There may be incredibly difficult circumstances that you are facing in this day and this moment.  I will not pretend to even begin to have a clue about what that is like or how it makes you feel.  I can’t tell you why it is happening or even how to make it better.  But I can tell you that you are loved regardless of it all and that you still have value to offer this world.

Think of a new born baby, they contribute no tangible benefit or output to those around them.  They need great care and can not reciprocate that care to others.  But have you ever seen the joy of a mother or a father or grandparent or other who has the opportunity to hold that precious gift and care for it.  Perhaps the greatest gift of refreshment that you can offer is allowing someone the opportunity to care for you.

You are amazing!  You are a miracle!  You are a beautiful gift!  You are a priceless treasure!  Yes, you, not just that other reader over there, YOU!

Dear & Beloved Lord,

It sounds silly, but I love the great words that You let flow through me.  You are absolutely incredible!  I am so inspired by You and in awe of You.  Today, Lord, I pray and I ask very passionately, that each person who reads my words, who comes in contact with my blog, who is on my website, who interacts with me at all, I pray that they are deeply and richly refreshed.  

I ask that You guide and assist all of us in living generous lives.  That we can let go and give in wild ways, the same way that You have wildly given to us.  I pray that as we approach Easter this year we see how You generously gave so much so that we could experience the ultimate refreshment by having restored relationships with You.  

In the refreshing name of Jesus’ amen.