Pour Into Others

Pour

Here we are—February! How awesome is that? I saw a quote on social media recently, and this one is not one I’m super happy with. I want to unpack the reasons why. Let me read it to you, and then I’ll share my thoughts.

It says:

“I am no longer filling cups that do not fill mine. I’m no longer going to fill up a cup of somebody else that will not fill mine. I don’t give of myself and my time believing that somebody else is going to turn around and give me back what I gave them.”

That is backward thinking. I get joy, fulfillment, and growth in my own life when I pour out the knowledge, influence, time, and resources that I have been blessed with.

I grow and get filled up more when I am pouring into others.

An empty vessel has nothing to give. A full vessel becomes stagnant if it doesn’t flow. You want to be like a river—constantly receiving and pouring out. Water flows in, and it flows out. You don’t want to become a pond of stagnant water that breeds disease and death.

This kind of thinking—the mindset behind that quote—comes from a place of hurt. Most likely, the person who created it has been wounded in some way. But I don’t give expecting the person I’m giving to will ever give back to me personally.

Please don’t have that kind of thinking. It doesn’t align with our core values of humility, investment, and purpose. It doesn’t fit with our belief in being valuable. Nothing less will do. It doesn’t fit with resolve. It doesn’t fit with the idea that we like to eat cake.

If you eat cake, I don’t want you to give it back to me after you’ve eaten it! Get what I’m saying? Don’t have that backwards thinking.

Keep looking for ways to be filled.

Pour into the lives of your community, your family, and the people you serve. When you do, you’ll continue to be filled with more value, more purpose, and more direction because you keep looking for resources and avenues to grow.

You should not always rely on someone else to fill you up, and you should not refuse to give what you have just because you think others won’t pour back into you.

I have given so much—time, money, resources, advice—you name it. Sometimes it fell on deaf ears. Sometimes it didn’t produce anything for me. It might not have even produced anything for them in a way that was visible.

I don’t believe that raising someone else up is about them giving back to me. But maybe someone they serve will. That’s the cycle of life. When we bless and pour into others, it’s generational. Someone I care for and help today might have grandchildren who, decades from now, help my grandchildren.

That’s why I do what I do. That’s how I do it.

I always fill the cups of others, regardless of whether they can give anything back to me. Regardless of whether they are willing to do anything for me. I give where I can, I do what I can. I pour into the lives of others because my source is not them.

My source comes from something else—something deeper, something more powerful. My source is my faith. That’s where it all comes from—God Almighty above. He is the one who pours into me, and because of that, I am able to pour into the lives of others.

Like a river, it keeps flowing through me, nourishing others. I never go empty. I never go dry.

God bless you. Have a wonderful week. Remember—let’s truly be valuable. Let’s keep filling the cups of others, regardless of whether they can ever give anything back to us.

Keep on giving.

You’ll be surprised how blessed you truly feel and how much you continue to be filled because of it.

See you next week!