Sippy cups are a great thing. I remember the ones we had when I was a kid. They were the Tupperware kind. They had a snap on lid that was pretty hard to get on – so chances were pretty good that you were going to spill the whole cup of juice trying to get the lid on. However, once you got it on the chances of a spill were greatly reduced. There wasn’t any device to keep the liquid from dripping out of the mouthpiece, but the worst of the spill would be averted.
Today, there are a thousand different companies and a thousand different styles of sippy cups. You can get them with whatever character you want on it, with different sized mouthpieces and completely spill proof. When they work, they’re pretty great. Unless you don’t clean out the gasket that keeps the liquid in, then they get filled with mildew. Probably not the best thing to be putting into your child. Could be wrong, but I’m just guessing.
The only real downside with this whole concept is that they usually come in packs of two or more. Which on the surface is good. Nice to have a backup – that way you don’t always have to wash it out. But, when you have more than one kid in the house, it can become an issue. Who’s cup belongs to who? When they’re identical it’s hard to know. So, what usually happens is that someone will end up drinking out of another kids cup. Or, like a lot of younger kids, they don’t even care. They see a cup and it’s just natural to pick it up and take a drink – it doesn’t matter who’s it is.
Except that it does. Of course there are kids who know which cup is their’s so when someone else takes it, that becomes an issue. But the bigger problem comes when one of the crew are sick. Then, in a very short time, the germs of the one sick kid are spread among the rest of them. Game over. Here come the sleepless nights.
All this could be avoided if the manufacturer would just make a way to mark each cup so we know who belongs to what cup. Maybe I should come up with a solution and pitch it on Shark Tank.
Proverbs 5:15-17
Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well.
Should your springs be dispersed outside,
your streams of water in the wide plazas?
I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “Okay Mr. Proverb dude, you’re telling me there’s a proverb about not sharing your cup?” Sure. Have a good day.
Of course, as you remember, this whole chapter is about the seductress and avoiding her at all costs. And yes, that’s what the primary application will be from this chapter as you will find out tomorrow. However, like I said a few days ago, we shouldn’t think of these warnings as only relating to fidelity. As you will see in the rest of this chapter, fidelity is of great importance. Probably the single most important thing you can do on this earth. Married or unmarried. But that’s not all that it’s about.
And no, this proverb isn’t about not sharing. Sharing is a good thing. Except when it comes to marriage. And except when it comes to your heart. And that is the issue I want to focus on. When we give in to the seductress (literal or figurative) we are drinking from someone else’s cup. Our heart and soul are monogamous. They cannot have more than one true love. Yes we can love many things and love them deeply, but when it comes to that one thing, the purpose of our very existence there can be no other.
When we go out into the world and fill our hearts with the things of this world, constantly allowing ourselves to drink from the wells of society, we are poising our own well. Just like our kids who drink from each others cups and share each others germs, when we drink from the wells of society we bring in all the evil with it. Every time we give into to the seductress, we poison our own water hole and spread the poison around to those we are closest to. Ever had a bad day at work? Did you go home and complain about it to your spouse? Did it affect their mood?
I’m not saying that we should cordon ourselves off from society and be totally disengaged. In fact, we must be engaged and be the light our culture needs. But we must not allow our core values and beliefs to be changed by drinking from the wells of society.
There’s much more to this little two verse section than what we’ve covered today, but hopefully this will give us the idea. When it comes to the most important things in life – God, Your Spouse & Family, we have to do everything we can to protect them from contamination. It doesn’t take much to bring catastrophe, do everything you can to protect it!
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