breakfast-club-flipper-final-2
On Air
The Breakfast Club with Dean, John & Andrew
Mon - Fri: 05:30 AM - 09:00 AM

I can still remember the terrifying feeling of sending our son to school on his very first day, and that HUGE, yellow SCARY bus that drove up the street to pick him up. OK, so the bus wasn’t really any bigger than any other bus, and there was nothing really scary about it, except for one thing… I wasn’t on it!  Like many parents, my husband and I had tried to create this wonderful safe and happy home where we tried to make sure our children felt loved and secure and protected. Any words that were spoken were kind and thoughtful and we did our best to treat one another with love and respect. So, you can imagine how out of control we felt sending our little innocent 4 year old to school.

I can remember another day after school, one of my daughters came running off the bus in tears explaining how she had been picked on and laughed at by an older kid on the bus. Now as a parent I wanted to get in my car and go stop the bus and somehow try to make this right for her, I clearly had no thought- out plan, but I instantly wanted to erase any pain she was experiencing in that moment.

Then I remembered a book my kids had been reading called “How full is your bucket?” by Tom Rath. It talks about how we all have an invisible bucket inside and how every situation and interaction with others can either help to fill or empty our bucket and it teaches both adults and children to be bucket fillers.

In that moment, I had a choice, I could begin to think of everything she should tell that boy the next time she saw him, that she had a right to be mad and upset or, we could talk about some of the things that would possibly cause a person to pick on someone smaller than them. I told them that perhaps kids who weren’t nice and  always treated others in mean ways didn’t have anyone to fill their buckets, so when they felt sad and alone or upset and  needed to reach in their buckets for strength and love, all they had been filled with were mean and perhaps negative words spoken to them by parents or people that should have made sure their buckets were full of love and kindness. We talked about how we didn’t need to be angry even though words hurt, but that by forgiving that boy we could maybe begin to help fill his bucket.

Our words have much more of an impact than most people realize, both positive and negative. When I think back to words that were spoken to me by teachers, bosses, doctors, family members or friends over the years, I realize how so many of the things that were said to me helped to shape who I am today. Whether someone told me as a young child that I had value and worth or that my life had purpose impacted me in such a positive way. I also remember words spoken that had the opposite affect on me.

I was at a funeral a few years ago and I remember hearing people say such wonderful things about this man and the life he had lived. Someone wrote a poem and various family members shared the most beautiful tributes and speeches about how his life had meant so much to so many. I couldn’t help wondering if he had been told these powerful and encouraging words while he was alive. Maybe he always had a full bucket, maybe not.

I was challenged to be a bucket filler. To never hesitate when I had a word of love or kindness or encouragement. That there were many people God had placed in my life who needed to hear words of life and freedom, of love and forgiveness, of praise and encouragement.

Mom’s I believe we have buckets that need to be filled too, in fact, if we need to be filling our children’s buckets, it is vital that WE be filled daily. How wonderful to know that we have access at any time to a well that never runs dry! God’s word is water when we’re thirsty, food when we hunger for more, and life when we have nothing left to give. In John 4:14, a Samaritan woman was coming to get water from a well, I guess we could say she needed her bucket filled, and Jesus told her that if she would drink of the water that he would give her that she would never be thirsty again.

So be encouraged, we can come day or night, when we need him he is there. When our buckets feel empty and there’s no one around to fill them, His well, (his bucket) never runs out, He never tires of us and his love never fails,

And, If you don’t know the one who can fill your bucket to overflowing, I want to introduce you today to the one who loves you, broken pieces and all. His name is Jesus. He invites you to come and Just lay it all at his feet, he is big enough to carry it all. Ask him to come into your life. He will forgive you and set you free if you only ask. He will give you beauty where there was ashes, and replace your tears with joy. I promise you, His love in unfailing and his mercy is never ending.

 

Related Posts

Loading...