One ugly mug…

Every Sunday morning I receive comments and questions on the size of the mug I carry around. It’s filled with Diet Coke (the elixir of life) and holds about 60 ounces, which is apparently more fluid than most people drink in a day. “That thing is huge!” “Do you really drink all that?” “How many times a day do you fill that up?” I’ve grown accustomed to having the biggest cup on the campus.
But last week I drove across the desert, from Austin to Los Angeles, and I made a startling discovery. I was at a convenience store in Phoenix; the temperature outside was 111. I know, it’s a dry heat. But still. I took my mug into the store to get a refill and saw a sign I’d never seen before. Most stores have a sign on the fountain that says something like this: “16 oz—69¢; 32 oz—79¢; 48 oz—89¢.” This sign started out like that, but it continued: “1 gallon— $1.79; 2 gallons—$2.89; 5 gallons—$6.89.”
A five gallon refill! What manner of man could achieve this? How would you even get a five-gallon container to fit on the soda fountain? I realized that my mug had become a pitiful and puny vessel, a demitasse cup compared to the offerings of these desert-dwellers.
Sometimes it takes a trip into the desert to reveal how much more you are capable of receiving. We wander through our spiritual lives, proud of how full our little teacup of grace is. But when the heat is on, we learn that we can receive more…if only our container is big enough.
The day after I stopped in Phoenix, I opened the car door and my mug tumbled onto the parking lot and shattered. The only thing worse than having a cup too small is having no cup at all. See, the fountain never stops flowing; we just forget to drink from it sometimes. Excuse me, I have to go get a new mug.