To begin with I think that I should clarify what the ‘vessel’ referred to here is. Not necessarily a boat or ship (but they do qualify), but a container of some description that is designed and meant to hold something within itself for storage or display or even moving something somewhere else. Most commonly the vessels we usually think about are objects that are designed to contain some form of liquid, whether it is water or wine or oil or dry pasta, for example, a vase for flowers, a bottle for wine, or a jar or can for oil and a box for the pasta. But here for this description we must include things like bags or boxes, pots and barrels, crates or tanks, simply put, the vessel is anything that is capable of carrying something else within its structure having also the capability of moving said contents if required. It’s surprising to think of an automobile as a vessel, but it is, or how about your own hand, although it may not have been originally intended as such it certainly is capable of operating as one.
That should take care of the vessel for now, so it’s time to move on to the ‘void’. Here, I’m not talking about a void as in the great emptiness of space, or that void that I sometimes seem to develop in my head where the brain usually resides. What I’m talking is simply the space within something (the vessel), no negative connotations of anything intended, simply what the empty space is that is found within something else. For example, the inside of your cup before you pour your coffee in it, or even the inside of that balloon before you blow it up for decorating that surprise party that’s about to happen, or on a grander scale, that hole in the ground before you fill it with water and start calling it a pool.
Now any vessel should be able to contain whatever is put in it, within reason. I mean you wouldn’t put a liquid in a burlap bag and expect to get anywhere with it or load up a fine china teacup with a hundred pounds of rocks and expect it to survive. At least I hope you wouldn’t. And not all vessels are intended to move from place to place. Sometimes a vessel is intended to be used for storage of something before it is put in something else to be transported somewhere else. I’m thinking of those big fuel tanks here and there, not intended to move but to store the fuel until such time that it is put into another vessel (a truck or rail car perhaps) for transport.
So what, you say, what are you going on about, empty pots with stuff in them, who cares. I care, and I’m not quite done with the vessel and void yet. Now I want you to think about what makes a vessel a good vessel, it’s not always good because of how much it holds, nor is it necessarily good because how easily it may be moved. What about how easily the void can be filled or how easily it can be emptied, or maybe how safely it can be moved, or filled, or emptied. Everything counts in whether it’s good or not, so what about those vessels that aren’t so good. What good would a container be if the opening through which the contents needed to pass was too small to allow the contents a flow in or out? It wouldn’t matter how big and spacious the interior was if the opening couldn’t accommodate the contents that needed to be in there, or needed to come out. And what would a vessel it be if it was nice and big by its outside dimension, with a spacious opening that would allow just about anything free movement but the inside void is so small that it couldn’t hold anywhere near what it should. That would definitely be non-productive to say the least. Or even the ideal looking vessel with a good size inside and out, easy and adequate filling and emptying, but maybe it’s actually too fragile so it can’t actually be moved without breaking and spilling its contents all over the place. The variables for good or not so good are endless.
Now what would make the best kind of vessel, I think it should be something strong, and resilient, and reasonably flexible. The void within would, by association, be basically the same. Strong to withstand the rigors of transport. Resilient to deal with the variables that would be encountered along the way. And flexible to accommodate a wide variety of void stuffing. It almost sounds like I’m describing a mega bag or super balloon.
But what I’m really talking about is you and me, all of us that happen to be kicking about on this planet. What I’m saying is that we are the vessels that I’m talking about here. We are vessels that have been designed and created to be utilized by the creator. The void within us is not just the open spaces waiting to be filled up (our mouth and stomach and any number or open spaces found within the body) but also our minds and hearts, our spiritual selves. As Christians we are the vessels of God the Creator and as such we should be willing to open ourselves up (take our lids off) to allow God to fill us with what He wants. But, because of our humanity, we don’t always make such good vessels, in the beginning we can’t just be picked up, filled up and away we go. We aren’t always ready-to-go. We usually need some work before we become the vessels that can be used the way He wants. We have to learn, through watching others, and our own experiences to know what must be done. To be able accommodate everything that God wants to load in us. Some have opened up themselves, but only a little, because they don’t know what’s really going to happen, they’re nervous of the unknown even scared because they just don’t know. Some open themselves up in such a way that they are like a jar with a huge opening but no place to put anything once you get past the neck. These people are the ones that are always begging for more but unfortunately the more they get, the more runs down the outside to spill on the ground around them because not much is getting through. I think that these are ones that are afraid that they might lose control, whether over themselves or their surroundings, again we have issues with fear and trust. And then there are ones that can take it all in, easily and fully, but are so fragile that if there is a wrong word or gesture they’ll break like a soap bubble on the grass losing everything.
They all will learn eventually, given time and experience, both personal and social. Trust is something that some people find difficult and it takes time but eventually the opening will widen or deepen to allow more and more to enter until the fill line is eventually reached. By then the issue is no longer trust but how much can be put in, this is where the strength, resilience and flexibility comes into the picture, after all the human race has all of those traits in spades. These full vessels that are now full still want more but not everyone can fit more in, the space available is limited until something gives, a stretching occurs that might allow a little more in but then what. What happens now? Everyone that wants to be or needs to be is full to the brim with Gods Spirit, bursting at the seams you might say. This would be wonderful, if everyone was bursting this way, what a world we would be living in. Now just about everyone knows a good thing when they experience it, and because of human nature, most will want to share what they have with someone else, perhaps family or maybe some close friends. So this is where us, as the vessel, comes in as a method of transporting its contents to somewhere else. They share what they have. I will call it Sharing the Spirit, which is exactly what God has intended right from the beginning. He has always wanted this, a major sharing of the knowledge of Him and all that He is. Gods Spirit filling one vessel, that vessel in turn sharing what it contains into another, and again into another. Each one in turn learns what it could be like to be filled with God the Spirit and wants to be filled in the same manner, and so it goes. And as an individual shares the knowledge, pours it out elsewhere, then God can put more in to replace the volume spread out. I think that every time that there is an outflow there will be another inflow from God; the vessel will stretch a little bit more each time it happens. And as a result of this stretch more goes in and more will come out when it needs to.
If we are conscious of our being the vessels of God we may act accordingly and fill ourselves up with the Spirit of God go about doing what we were designed for, Sharing the Spirit over and over again, whenever we go, wherever we go to anyone and everyone around the world.
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