The Reason For Feeling Empty

Trying to Run on Empty (from Daily Encounter)

"It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).

I had just arrived home from work one evening and as I was walking into the front door of my home, a simple but profound truth hit me: "The reason I feel empty is because I am."

I have come to realize more and more that whenever I feel empty, it is because either my "God love cup" or my "people love cup" is running on low or empty.

It is true that we can live without a lot of things but we can't live meaningfully without at least one close, loving relationship, and preferably several. It doesn't have to be romantic love but it does need to be at least brotherly love.

It has been said that there is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart that only God can fill. This is very true, but there is also a people-shaped vacuum that only people can fill. Both need to be kept topped up for total well-being and meaningful living.

I like to visualize my heart as a cup made up of two parts: One is a God-shaped half. The other a people- shaped half. Only as both are "fixed and filled" do I become a whole!

We can no more run on an empty love cup than our car can run on an empty fuel tank. We just need to make sure we get our people-love-cup filled in healthy ways, otherwise we may be tempted to use a damaging counterfeit to medicate or anesthetize the pain of our emptiness or we can literally get ill physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually.