Thoughts on Being Full - a letter from a friend

"On one of our hikes in Drakensberg...'As we spent a few hours just reflecting and journaling by the side of a waterfall, I was meditating on those mysterious places in Ephesians where it talks about the "fullness" of God. I was struck by the way the whole river gorge had been slowly carved out by the water. With each passing flood-time, the river can hold more and more water, till what was once a tiny trickle becomes a mighty river. It's like the whole Christian life is about God slowly wearing away our stubborn stony hearts and making them bigger so he can fill them. His goal is to enlarge our hearts so that we can grow in our capacity to feel both joy and sorrow; to both receive and give love, and to hold more and more of God's presence in our lives. In heaven, as Jonathan Edwards says, we will all, like cups, be filled to the brim with joy; but some of our "cups" will have grown larger than others, more able to hold the fullness of joy. Enlarge my heart, O God. Carve me away as this stream chisels this rock - beats it, dissolves it, carries it away. Let me be, not a shallow riverbed, but a worn-away canyon, able to hold both deep mourning and deep rejoicing.' "-Abigail Cooley