emptied Again.

"I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow" - Desert Song

Chew on that for a while.  I know I have been.  I first heard this song Saturday night and that line stuck out to me as if it had been the only lyric in the entire song.  I talk a lot about the desert and my love for the desert (the spiritual desert, not so much actual deserts) but this line just struck me.  I know I'm filled to be emptied again.  We have to be filled first, but we aren't filled to stay filled forever, we are filled to be emptied again.  Over and over again.

Today, instead of blogging all about the desert and Lent, I'll simply share my prayer with you that came out of this verse:

"Fill me up, Lord.  The emptying out, at least in the service of others, brings glory to You.  When we are emptied for Your sake we shall be filled all the more to the brim with Your love and mercy.  Empty me, Lord, empty me of all that keeps me from You so that I may be full only of You.  Then, being full of You, may You help me pour my heart out again.  There is beauty in this cycle - open my eyes to see it.  Empty my heart.  Strip me of everything that is not of or from You.  Empty me to fill me up again.  Fill me up to empty me.

As the waters of Your love flow into my heart, may they overflow to Your children.  May I be filled to be emptied.  May I take the time to allow You to fill my heart.  I can't give what I don't have.  I can't continue to feed others if I'm not being fed.  Feed me.  Fill me.  Wash me clean in Your love.  Fill me up to empty me just as You filled Your Son to empty Him out on the Cross.  Unite my sufferings with His.  Fill my heart and empty it, may the filling and the emptying be like the waves of the ocean, the tide comes in and the tide goes out.  Rest my heart.  Rest my heart in this continual filling up and emptying out.  This is my prayer in the harvest.  This is my prayer in the desert.  Fill my heart with all that is You, empty my heart of everything that is not.  AMEN."