“I can’t ever fill anybody’s cup, but I can be responsible for emptying mine.” – Andy Stanley

Pouring out needs to be about emptying my own cup. No matter what is happening, the objective of encouragement should be to pour out into others. Whatever they may need, my action should be to pour myself into them.

Pour encouragement into them. Lift them up. Give them hope.

Pouring out is about emptying my own cup. Don’t pick the people to fill. Simply work on emptying my own cup.

How do I know if what I am pouring out is helpful?

I may never know.

Encouragement, many times, includes planting seeds you may not see grow to maturity. The point of emptying yourself isn’t to see what great and glorious results come from it. The point is to be willing to REFRESH, ENCOURAGE, and INSPIRE others.

Plant seeds of encouragement. Don’t worry about the results. Continue to encourage, and the results will be handled by God.

I am called to pour out. I am not called to celebrate the results.

Does this mean if I’m made aware of the results, if someone thanks me and tells me of their own success, I shouldn’t rejoice? No. Not at all.

The point I’m trying to make is to not expect and wait for the results. Continue to encourage. Continue to inspire.

As I read through Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker for the second time, the idea of “think long” came upon me in a different manner.

Thinking long now includes thinking of the impact of my life far into the future. What exactly am I doing today to impact the lives of the generations to come after me? From the standpoint of immediate family, the prayers I offer for my sons will most certainly impact their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren. I may not be physically present to experience the lives of those future generations, but I can certainly do something right now to have an impact on their lives.

The more I pour into my boys, the more I am intentional about encouraging them, the bigger impact it may have on those future generations. It is not for me to determine what happens in the future. It is simply to fulfill God’s calling on me to the current generation. God will take care of the future. My duty, my calling, is to plant seeds.

Are you pouring out? Are you planting seeds?