The Filling

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Ephesians 5:18 (NIV)

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I understood emptiness long before I understood filling.

I tried to fill the ache in me with everything except You, and called each attempt a harmless comfort.

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But nothing else fits the shape You left when You made room for Yourself in me.

Wine fills for an hour and empties me faster than before. You fill and the fullness stays, because You do not leave when the feeling fades.

I have felt You fill the exact hollow another thing had only ever made bigger.

I called it satisfaction.

It was You, the only filling that does not run out.

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Forgive me for reaching for substitutes shaped nothing like You.

You were never a stricter version of joy.

You are joy that does not have to be chased again tomorrow.

Filling Spirit, take up the space I keep offering to lesser things.

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A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for filling what nothing else could satisfy.

Thank You for a fullness that does not fade by morning.

Fill me again today, and do not let me settle for less. Amen.

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