The quality of being faithful; fidelity.
The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one…2 Thessalonians 3:3
Over the past few weeks, this word has been laying so heavily on my heart, that I just have to share it with y’all.
Most of us, myself included, probably think of the word faithfulness as something others are to us, or a character trait we seek out in people. I mean after all, who wants a cheating spouse or a backstabbing friend? I’m guessing none of us.
But, what I’ve been realizing is that faithfulness is something I’ve been missing in myself, for myself. Sure, I’m faithful to my husband, I’m faithful in taking care of my family, I’ve even been (somewhat) faithful to my business. However, I haven’t been faithful to myself.
What does it mean to practice faithfulness to ones self? It simply means staying true to what you believe in, sticking to what you’ve set out to do for yourself, & not “cheating” on what matters to you.
As women, we cheat on ourselves all the time & we don’t even realize it. We skip our time with the Lord & meditating because that meeting got moved up. We skip our quiet time in the bath because the hubbs finally wants to talk. We skip eating healthy because our toddler only eats chicken nuggets & we’re just too tired to cook something different.
One might argue that this isn’t really cheating, but just how life goes, & a mama’s gotta do what a mama’s gotta do.
This is all fine & dandy, & I even agree to some degree, but at some point we need to be faithful in filling our cup too. Which is why I love the Kool-Aid analogy & it goes like this:
- First, get a pitcher of Kool-Aid & a cup for yourself, everyone, & everything in your life. Most of us will have about 8-10 cups.
- Next, fill 1 cup to the brim & set the pitcher aside. Mama this ONE cup is you!
- Now, only using your cup, pour your Kool-Aid into all the other cups as they need it & lets see what happens…
- Your cup gets EMPTY quick, fast, & in a hurry…That’s what happens! Now mama is tired, cranky, & sad. Why? Because, she hasn’t been faithful to herself!
The pitcher is full of things that refill you with love, joy, peace, patience, & understanding. The pitcher has been there all along, you didn’t put it away, you only set it aside. You were simply unfaithful in picking it up & refilling your cup.
What’s your Kool-Aid, mama? Whatever it may be, I challenge you this week to practice it with the same faithfulness you would give your spouse, children, & friends 🕊
