Today I read the book How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids with my Kindergarten class. I was a little worried they may not grasp the concept presented in the story, so I used a visual illustration. Those kids latched on fast! Their suggestions of how to fill someone's bucket warmed my heart. The book discusses how we all have an invisible bucket and when someone does or says something kind to us, it puts drops into our bucket. However, when someone says or does something unkind, it pours out some of the drops in our bucket. We talked about being bucket fillers, because Christ calls us to be kind to one another and forgive one another.
I don't know about you, but some days I fill like my bucket is pretty much running on empty. The well is dry. I am tired, worn, and hurt. And yet on these days when I do something kind for someone else regardless of how I feel, the drops start to collect in my bucket. Some days my bucket is filled to the brim and overflowing. But other days a snide look, a hurtful comment, a rude gesture etc. really starts to drain my bucket. I felt a little like that today. I was trying my best with one of the children in my classroom and they just weren't responding to anything I was trying. And then I get something thrown on me unexpectedly and the other person may have not even meant to, but my bucket gets a little more dry.
The point is that when my bucket is nearing empty and I just feel terrible, I have two choices to make. I can choose to mope about my empty bucket and the hand supposedly dealt to me, or I can fill someone else's bucket and in turn fill mine as well. Christ calls us to love even when it hurts. This means I press on and be a light for Him and be kind to others even when I don't want to. Some days I do a better job than others. I can also wound, manipulate, and put down someone with my words. Some days I let my flesh get the best of me and this is how I respond.
The wonderful, amazing news is that Christ forgives me and pours such great grace into my life even when I am causing someone else's bucket to drain. He gives me a chance to make it right, to turn around, and choose to say a kind word, reach out to someone in need, give a hug, or encourage someone in order to fill their bucket. It really is so much better to give than to receive.
Those kids of mine are my students, but there are times when they are teaching me as well. Today I needed this lesson just as much, if not more, than they did. Lord, I want to be a bucket filler even when it's hard. Help me to love like You love regardless of how empty my own bucket may be and how lousy I may feel.
How can you fill someone's bucket today? Just try it and I can guarantee, it will put a huge smile on your face as well. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ Jesus forgave you."- Ephesians 4:32
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