The Tipping Point by Chris
/Tip Me Over And Pour Me Out!
Nursery rhymes and songs that are taught to children can remain long in the recesses of the mind. While I cannot recall what I got on an important math test in college, I can immediately jump up and perform “I’m a little teapot” with perfect clarity down to the spout and the shout. I don’t have to look up the lyrics or the motions as they seem to be imbedded in my DNA. When did I learn that? In kindergarten at the age of five. This speaks of the power of how impressionable our minds can be at early ages. Just like sponges, we soaked up words whether they were true or not and made them fit into our reality. Adults and authority figures were our guides ushering us along the road to adulthood. If we were surrounded by positive role models and encouraging people, tasks didn’t seem to be so difficult. However, if we were taught from a negative standpoint, and told we couldn’t do something, it made the accomplishment of that job much more troublesome and maybe we failed.
Much of how a person lives his or her adult life is based upon what was taught and demonstrated in childhood. This isn’t new information to any of us, however, it is worth repeating because it is so significant to how life progresses for each individual. From one generation to another, habits and ways of thinking are given out like a pair of hand me downs. No matter how worn out the old clothes are, someone has to endure wearing them until they are no longer useful. In the same way, we have put on thoughts and beliefs from the past that may contain many holes. We were told, “Money doesn’t grow on trees” or “You cannot get something for nothing.” This conveys the message that you have to work and strive and work some more to get what you really want in life. Where does that leave room for a God who says, “Cast your burdens upon me” and “Ask anything in My name, and I will do it for you”?
How should a person proceed after realizing what she considered fact is really fiction? Just like in the ‘Little Teapot” song, it is time to ‘tip me over and pour ME out.” What does that mean? The first step when making a pot of tea, according to the directions on the package, is to start with a fresh pot of water. Following along that prescription, when false thinking is recognized, a person must be willing to say to herself, “No. That is the old way of looking at situations. I am a new creation in Christ.” In a sense then, you begin to pour yourself out by getting rid of the old mindsets and patterns that have developed over your lifetime. Instead of allowing the default emotion of the past take over, a person can say to himself, “How does God see this situation? Would He be worried? ” Some will say, “Well, that isn’t easy.” And, if that is your belief, then that is how it will go for you. If, however, you tell yourself, “I can do this. I want what God wants for me,” that is how you will progress along. You are in charge of how you will live your life and the quality of it. Emptying yourself of negative thoughts and false beliefs leaves room for clean, fresh thinking to take over. You cannot make a good pot of tea with old, dank water, and you cannot fashion a fulfilling life with old, negative thinking.
A person needs to allow herself to be filled with new. Opening up your Bible and asking the Holy Spirit to lead you to scriptures that show you who you are in Christ is a great way to get rid of deceptive thinking. In Ephesians 2:10 it says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (NLT) Verses like this will begin to make a person realize the value that she has in God’s eyes while at the same time banishing low self esteem. If you believe that sentence, then you can begin to empty out the old thoughts about yourself and replace them with brand new ideas about who you are.
A few years ago, I took my two girls to a water park for a day of fun and relief from the heat. The park was designed for kids to interact with water through sprayers, fountains and waterslides. This was not a place for a person who desired to stay dry. When small, giggling children are given free access to water sprayers, they will douse you without permission. In this position of power, every passing person was a target for squirting whether acquainted or not. In addition to that, there was a gigantic blue bucket in the center of all the activity. Water continually was funneled into it so that eventually it would be so full it would spill over. Many waited anxiously looking upward for that moment when water would rain down upon them in torrents. To add to the tense anticipation, an alarm sounded moments before the onslaught of wetness was about to hit. This shrill warning gave the adults time to dash to the farthest corner of the pool while the children ran in droves to get in just the right place for the soaking. From down below, you could see when the water was beginning to spill over the sides of the bucket as it was filled to the brim. Then, as if it couldn’t take it anymore, it would abruptly tip on its side and drench everything within a two mile radius.
This is a great visual of what a person must do to change his mental outlook. As you purposefully fill up your mind with positive thoughts and cast away the negative ones, there is going to come a moment where all of that good inside of you will splash out and affect your physical surroundings. Day by day as you think on ‘what is lovely, pure and right’ as God’s Word says, you will reach a place where the joy inside of you cannot be contained. There is a term for that called the tipping point. If you have never heard of it, this is the definition: the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. Instead of trying to change yourself all at once, you take it one step at a time just like single drops of water filling up a container. If you keep the water bucket vision in your mind, and tell yourself that you will do the best you can each day, changes will begin to take shape around you.
In John 10:10 (Amplified) Jesus tells us why God sent Him for us: “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [a]overflows).” Our Heavenly Father desires for us to experience a flood of plenty in every aspect of our lives. If you are willing to ‘pour yourself out’, then you will experience what Psalm 23:5 says: “My (brimming) cup runs over.” (Amplified)