Are you fulfilling the purpose of your design?

In my quiet time today, as it was pouring down rain, the Lord gave me the thought of a watering can.  We have a very old watering can that we bought from an antique store.  It is from Europe and it most likely has been in the hands of many people.  It has beauty, function, purpose, and an original designer.

The original designer did not cut a number of pieces of metal and throw them into the air and when they hit the ground it was a watering can!  No, he had a purpose in mind followed by a function of design so that the purpose could be fulfilled.  He then created what he saw in his mind by taking the metal he had and created his vision.  When we take our watering can and fill it with water and begin to pour it out over the dry and parched soil, we have used it in the way that it was created to be used.  Its purpose has been fulfilled. When we fill it and do not pour it out, the water becomes stagnant and can become a place for pests to multiply or just become foul.   It has been used but has not fulfilled its purpose. When we take our watering can and put it away and rarely use it, we are preventing it from being used as it was designed.  We do not let it function by giving water to the plants that need it.  Of course we can wait and hope someone else will water the plants by some other means but you have watched your own plants die waiting from them to be watered by something else.

Are you being used as you were designed?  Are you being filled up and poured out with God’s grace, love and purpose?   Or are you sitting on the shelf waiting to be pulled into action when you have the ability to get off the shelf?   God gives us the opportunity to be filled up by his presence and by his word.  He wants us to take whatever He fills us up with and pour it out over the ones who are living dry and parched lives so that they will not die or wither up but have life and have it abundantly.   Do not fill up on the word and not pour out, as you too will become stagnant.   The choice is yours so choose wisely.