Empty Cups

Have you ever tried to pour from an empty cup?

How many mothers, how many fathers, wake in the morning and try to pour sweet hot chocolate,

or fresh, bright juice—

from a cup that holds nothing.

You can only pour what you have placed there.

We each have our own ways of filling a cup—

your choice of joy, your choice of nourishment.

It might be time with friends,

a prayer whispered in stillness,

a stretch of quiet,

exercise, yoga,

pages turned in a good book,

the scent of something simmering in the kitchen,

the slow tending of a garden.

So many ways to fill a cup—

but fill it, you must.

Because when your cup is empty,

you try to pour joy,

and out comes irritation.

You try to speak peace,

and sharp words spill instead.

Sometimes you don’t even notice

until your child is the one

who tastes the bitterness.

Give yourself time—every day—

to fill your cup.

Morning is natural for this,

when the day is fresh and unclaimed.

Sit with God in prayer.

Breathe in the quiet.

Move your body.

Share a conversation that makes you laugh—

laughter is a rare and exquisite filling.

You cannot pour from an empty cup.

Your best self rises when your cup overflows.

So, fill each other’s cups.

Then what you pour into the children you love—

will nourish them well.

DocTibbs