My first thought was imagining a visit with a friend G. who is a wine connoisseur and having him pour me a very fine and costly glass of wine and then just letting the glass fill and flow over onto the tablecloth. We would likely be appalled by the waste rather than impressed by generosity. The image that David gives us in 23 is of a host who is extravagantly lavish in how he cares for his guests. He pops the cork and starts pouring into one glass but is distracted by already filling another, with wine sloshing everywhere. This would certainly be careless extravagance in the context of a land where water is so precious.
Jones writes, “[T]o ignore David’s cup with its contents spilling out all over the place is to dismiss the free, frolicking divinity behind it. Psalm 23 bids that we come to terms with feeling awfully blessed without feeling awful about it….
…When we are living in God’s overflow, there is an abiding sense of having what you need and always having enough to share. Appreciating what we have, rather than ruminating over what we don’t have, allows us to abide freely and fully in ever-flourishing blessing.”
My sense over the last few weeks is that my cup is overflowing and that rather than being diminished in this new reality, I feel a flourishing. Of course we would love to be with our kids and grandkids, we would love to hug and be hugged. We would love a big gathering of friends but at the same time I don’t want to lose what has been a greater awareness of so many good things in my life, pouring over the rim, spilling in pools at my feet.