2. The Cup of Life The cup is a symbol of our inner journey.

3. I invite you to hold your cup, to look into it and think about your spiritual life. Looking into the empty cup can be like looking into your deeper self.

4. Notice the rim of your cup. It is circular, with no beginning or end, a symbol of wholeness. In the circle all is connected to form a oneness. Remember that God is always “happening” in our lives.

5. The cup is a container for holding something. Whatever it holds has to eventually be emptied out so that something more can be put into it.

6. The cup can be a powerful teacher of our inner life for in the cup we can see life, with its emptiness, fullness, brokenness, our flaws, and blessings.

7. The spiritual journey is like that – a constant process of emptying and filling, of giving and receiving, of accepting and letting go.

8. The Perfect Cup Hold your cup in your hands. Study the cup. Notice if there are any flaws or imperfections. Enjoy the cup for itself: color, shape, size, etc. Close your eyes. Picture yourself in God’s hands. See God observing how you look on the inside and outside. Let God see your blemishes and faults. Imagine God smiling and enjoying who you are.

9. The Empty Cup Look into your empty cup. Hold the empty cup between your hands. Look into the emptiness. Abide with the emptiness. Do not attempt to fill it with insights or feelings. Open the door of your heart. Go inside and be with God.

10. The Unmendable Cup Ponder the cup as it lays on its side before you. Is there anything in your life that seems unable to “rise up”? Think about the possibility of it not being mendable. Are you at peace with letting go of it? Ask God for what you need in order to be healed. Pick up the cup and hold it, upright, in your hands. Ask God to give you wisdom and courage to let go of any old pain and difficulties that keep you in bondage.

11. Just when you think your cup is empty, God fills it up.