The Size of a Cup
(“But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand.” Isaiah 64:8)
One of my little sisters, Susanna, gave me a very large mug for my tea that reads, “I smile because you’re my sister. I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it.” I love it! Not just because it embodies the hilarious dynamic of our relationship, but also because of its capacity to hold a very large quantity of my stevia sweetened, mango passion tea. On a cold autumn day, I pass over every other mug in the cupboard for that one. I savor the flavor with my slice of pumpkin chocolate chip bread and cream cheese. When the fierce cold of winter imprisons us with the alluring scent of ginger and clove from fresh gingerbread, my heart turns back towards the cupboard and once again I choose that mug to load with tea or homemade hot chocolate. When spring is first birthing, and she has her fits of damp cold, I fill it and allow its warmth to hold the promise of coming balmy weather.
But there is a strange dynamic that it invokes in my home. My children plead for it, and when I say “no,” their eyes fill with envy. There are many other fun mugs in my cupboard, but none of them are as desired as the one I got from Susanna. 
Vessels, containers – whether pails and buckets, vases or jars, mugs or tumblers – are important. The quality of their materials, and the capacity of their size, define what they can be used for, what they will be successful at.
Over the past few years of massive upheaval and change as a family I have often bewailed my lack of capacity. I felt my world, our world, shrink. This was not the direction I ever saw it going in…for wasn’t the need greater than you or I could fathom? It seemed that we should be enlarging our sphere of influence and our ability to minister to those around us. It seemed wrong, nay, even sinful, to be doing less than more.
It wasn’t time, in my book, to trade in my big mug for a small teacup. There were many thirsty for the Living Waters, and with a teacup I feared I wouldn’t have much to share.
I was bewailing my plight with my husband one day, and he wisely responded with, “Why do we always think our capacity is so much bigger than what the Lord thinks? Why don’t we just humbly accept the fact that He has formed and fashioned us for His purposes? That perhaps He knows best what stewardship we are capable of?”
Up till that point I had not been able to see the demon of pride lurking behind my good intentions. I had defined my discontent by a desire to do more for my Heavenly Father. But in all reality, I was in rebellion. My dissatisfaction with how small my cup – my capacity – had become, was nothing more than me rejecting the stewardship I had been trusted with…and no matter how small or insignificant it seemed, I had been trusted with something.
My focus ought to have been on how best to serve Him with what I had been given. To embrace it humbly, joyfully – and to pour my whole heart and soul into cultivating it for the glory of Christ. In doing this, not only is nothing wasted, but the quality of my vessel is enhanced.
I become fit for the Master’s use. I exchange my grand and glorious ideas of what I want to be, and embrace serving at the pleasure of my King.
If I am lost in the back of the cupboard, robed in shame because I cannot compare to the big glorious mug that can hold three or four times what I can, I may be passed over when I am needed most. If my heart is so set on carrying buckets of water to the thirsty masses, that I miss the opportunity to hold nourishment for a soul that He is trysting with over a cup of tea, it is to my eternal shame.
There is such peace in letting the Potter define what I am. Of shedding the expectations of others, or of myself, and looking only to the One that formed me for my boundaries 
and definition. To swell with anticipation of all that He will do in and through me no matter my size… for there are places that only a teacup can go, jobs that only a teacup is suited for.
Let me glory, Father, not in my own ability or capacity to bless, but in the smile of Your countenance when I have allowed Your Son to have His way with me!
5 Replies to “The Size of a Cup”
That was amazing and very applicable Kristina. Thank you. We so hope you are all doing better.
Ah, my sweet friend, Kristina. What a beautiful piece of writing and such precious reflections. It blessed my soul.
What you’re saying is spot-on and an accurate reflection from the person on the inside of the trial. However, because I watch this life of yours unfold from a different vantage point, I want to add my perspective, if you’ll Indulge me (which you always so graciously do- surely there’ll be a special jewel in your crown for how you indulge me ?).
It’s easy for the slow cooker to be envious of the sizzling frying pan and also for the quickly-used-and-put-away frying pan to be envious of the slow cooker that gets to be the bearer of hope all day long. But the truth is that in God’s kitchen, He makes sure He has every tool He’ll need and He’s masterful at selecting just the right one for every need. Whether we’re a sizzling frying pan or a low-slow all-day crock pot, it’s a joy to be in the use of The Master. It’s easy to think we could do something else better and it’s easy to want to do something else, especially when we see others doing things we’d love to do. But we must trust that in the service of the Master, we’re perfect. How could we not be? He’s not sloppy or incapable. What He does is perfect and I know you agree.
That’s all high and lofty, admittedly, when I’m not the one lying in pain yet another day. Please forgive me for painting what may seem like a harsh picture. It’s only for the point of illustration and all said to say this:
Kristina, it’s amazing what the Lord has done in you and through you in spite of your limitations. For example, Cornerstone Baptist Church celebrates its 6th anniversary next month and has been a place of love, healing, growth, and hope for many and even though you’re both giving it everything you’ve got, no one is going to be able to say, “Look what the Jossunds did” because the Jossunds have been pinned down and incapable of accomplishing what’s being done. There will be no room for misunderstanding. Everyone will KNOW beyond a doubt that it was the Lord who established Cornerstone Baptist Church. And so your lives point to Him even through your limitations.
Not only does your cup dispense to the flock, but also the husband you tend is doing great work for the Lord which he couldn’t do without your daily support and helps. Plus, your children are beautiful, delightful, growing in the Lord, and sharing their love for Jesus in your neighborhood and in the church neighborhood. And your home has many times been a comforting and welcome place for me and many others and our conversations have been blessed beyond measure. His Love abounds wherever you are, Kristina. You’re being well used by the Master!
You show forth constantly that His grace is sufficient. When people see you blossom in the recent difficult soil that your life has been anchored to, they think, “if God’s grace is sufficient for her trials, then it’s got to be sufficient for mine.” Your weakness produces strength and hope in the very flock that you often think you’re letting down. Nay. The Master has shaped you perfectly and is using you superbly in the encouraging and healing of a flock of wounded sheep. This flock doesn’t need a flurry of activity. That may well come later. But now It needs a quiet place to heal. Your presence and your testimony of His abundant grace is the perfect match for this recipe.
Your ministry is indeed a severely trying one and I don’t know anyone who would check that box on the sign-up sheet. But it’s a crucial ministry and one that He surely couldn’t trust to just anyone. He’s made you perfectly and is using you perfectly for the need of the hour. You willingly and graciously comply and continue to seek to draw from His hand that you might dispense what He gives. You think your cup is small but what you pour forth is bigger than it could be if your cup were indeed the huge mug that Susanna gave you. That’s how the Master works.
Your sweet-spirited compliance in such difficult trials will not only meet the need of the hour but will surely result in His one day saying, “Well done, Kristy, My good and faithful servant.” ?
Well, said my dear little teacup!!!! 🙂
It okay to be small, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” In not despising where we are we have this promise, too. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much…”
Sometimes I think, we get “too big” before we get “small” and we didn’t learn all we needed to learn along the way. Then the Lord may bring us back to “small” in order for us to learn all we need to learn to get “big” again His way.
I have worn this path well for you, my dear, because I have traveled these paths, from big to small and from small to big, many times in my life.
I do have to say though the path from “big” to “small” is much more difficult to travel than from “small” to “big.”
That “big to small” path usually has a lot of humbling of myself on it. I have found it’s better to focus on my part in all of this, that is being faithful and not worry so much about my bigness or smallness. If I’m focusing on my faithfulness I ought to decrease and He ought to increase.
You have done well, my dear, through all of these struggles. You are an inspiration to me and so many others.
This and the previous comments are pure, edifying beauty! ?
Thank you sooo much I know exactly how you feel. I often feel I should be doing more, then I have to stop and realize I’m right where God wants me doing what He expects me to do with the circumstances He has provided for me. I’m not confident, I don’t feel like I’m good at it and I’m constantly asking God for help, but that’s why He has me here. Thank you for this, it’s such an encouragement.