The Overflow
When I'm in a restaurant that serves coffee in a cup with a saucer I always thought it was to give my spoon a place to rest and catch the coffee when it spills over while being carried to the table. In fact, when it does arrive with coffee in the saucer I usually slide a napkin between the cup and saucer to clean it up. At home I rarely even use a saucer. So I was curious to know how the tradition of cup and saucer began.
Did you know that in the 18th century it was common to pour tea or coffee into the saucer and...sip it from the plate? The beverage cooled faster on the wider surface and stayed hot longer in the cup. I don't remember ever seeing anyone drink from the saucer! But visualizing this made me think of Psalm 23:5. "You (God) anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." The oil in the Bible is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Can you just envision God pouring His oil...His Holy Spirit anointing over us...and our cup overflowing?!! God's Spirit splashing into our cup and spilling over on to everything and everyone around us! What an incredible word picture that is to us!
Maybe it's time we start drinking from the saucer. The overflow of God's Spirit in our lives. The beauty of that is that it covers us...and it can impact the atmosphere around us. Let's live in the overflow!
Read more devotions written by Denise Harper at Treasured Inside
