Hands up if you’ve heard the question or phrase “Is the glass half empty or half full”? Truth is we have all heard that phrase so much so that it has become mundane and ineffective to our perspective but there’s more to the phrase than a mere ice breaker, especially if you are the glass. Bare with me as I put you in the glass’ shoes, as I prompt you to liken your life, experiences and perspective to fit the one of the above wine glass.

In a perfect world the glass is either of the options- half empty/half full, overflowing or simply broken but this is not a perfect world and in this world the glass endures all these not as options but as stages, phases in its life.

Empty

After the creation of the glass its empty, polished and clean but it doesn’t change the fact that the glass empty. The only impressive thing about a clean and shining glass of wine is that its capable of being filled, but how often have we been this empty glass, where we’ve polished our outer appearance so as to impress and look as though we were at competing standard but we were so empty and lacked substance and were prey to predators who saw the emptiness and instead of filling us up with wine as intended by purpose they filled us up with water, bleach or just took us as a trophy. That predator could be anything, substance abuse downright to domestic violence.

Half full/half empty

I want you to envision this: half full wine glass – the perfect amount of red glorious wine. As the glass is beautifully displayed or paraded with its contents it sees a mirror had immediately its countenance changes, why? This is where there is a distinct line between self awareness and perspective comes into play. The is a difference between who we are and what we think about who we are. The wine glass saw it was half filled with wine and perceived itself as not enough, question is on whose scale? Again I liken this glass to ourselves we often say we are optimists and we see the glass as half full and yet we shout NOT ENOUGH! in silent thoughts. Unlike the glass of wine which judged itself based on its finished work, we have come to judge ourselves on our stage of becoming and continuously shout NOT ENOUGH!

Overflow

Overflow is not or should not be a phase but a lifestyle. lets look at the wine glass again. The same concept that is used to create fountains is the same concept that I wish to share. Overflow is not a state of perfection but it is a state of being able to pour into and never run dry ( you might want to write that down). It is being able to run over the normal capacity and allow others to be filled up from wine that comes from you yet you yourself never run dry, you never get exasperated no matter the demand. It is independent of the demand because the supply is unlimited. when we allow overflow we are able to love from the overflow, nature from the overflow and teach from the overflow such that the circumstances of life don’t leave us dry but we are an oasis in a dry and barren land

Broken

The glass sitting at the edge of the table, one wrong move and the glass plummets under the influence of gravity meets the ground, produces a million cracks and breaks into many pieces someone comes along cleans it all up, throws the glass in the dumpster and that is the end of the glass but is it yours? Unlike the glass our “breaking points” are not meant to break us even if it feels like it. When we are broken we recognize our inadequacy to take in any substance let alone retain it. We understand how useless we are in a vineyard and but for a moment believe we are beyond repair but this is the turning point, we may relate to the struggles a wine glass faces but we are not glass we ”are born of an incorruptible seed”we do not shatter, we do not break instead we go through seasons and fluctuations and when we for a moment forget that we become suicidal and feel defeated.

What if I told you you had a choice either to live life as empty, half empty, half full ,broken or overflowing. It could be a phase we go through or a life we choose for ourselves. Question is what will you choose?