the hidden ugly

A long many years ago, someone gave a devotional illustration I still think about in seasons like this.

He handed his friend a large cup, and then stood behind him and shook his arms.  Water flew everywhere, drenching the stage and the friend, and after everyone laughed, he asked, "Why did water go everywhere?"

The obvious answer was, "Because you shook his arms!"

But the true reason I'd overlooked was this: Water came out of the cup because there was water in the cup to begin with.

It is really, really easy on hard days, in hard seasons, in hard situations, to blame the shaker, or the shaking.

I lost my patience because they...

I said something I shouldn't have because they...

I'm frustrated and angry because they...

I've lost my joy because of this situation...

I spouted ugly everywhere because Haiti...these roads! this culture! this government! this heat! 

I spewed worry because Hardship...this struggle! this sickness! this poverty! this circumstance!

Everyone around me is drenched in my bitter right now because Hurt...she said! he did! this injustice! how unfair!

But the reality He's always reminding me of is that when we spout or dwell or react ugly, it's not because of the shaking.  It's because there was ugly IN there to begin with.

Maybe ugly we didn't even know was in our cups...one of the reasons we can thank God for difficult situations in our lives, exposing our true hearts for His molding.

If anger and bitterness are IN there, they're gonna come OUT when I'm shaken.  If there's no faith nor trust in there, faith and trust aren't gonna come bounding out when my cup is dumped.  If I claim Jesus lives in there...if He does..then doesn't it HAVE TO be HIM coming out when my life is shaken?

I'm speaking to myself today: Let's be thankful for the shaking, wherever it's coming from, whatever it's form, however "undeserved" or "unfair" or painful it is, because the shaking exposes us to what's really in our cups.

And instead of blaming our ugly on the source of the shaking, let's be committed to following Christ with our content...working on its sweetening by His grace and mighty help, repenting for the ugly, repenting for the nasty, for the bitter, for the steaming, for the icy, and searching out from Our Source of Living Water that pure, sweet overflow of Christ.

Surely this is what 2 Corinthians 2 is speaking of when Paul notes that God can use us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God when we are shaken, when we are broken.  

Are they?