Soap Dispensers

Is there anything more disappointing than walking up to an empty soap dispenser?

Standing in the buffet line, walking up to the teacher's desk, leaving someone's side in a hospital room. Expecting, anticipating, hoping that the hand sanitizing station is going to fill your germ-covered hands with its liquid cleanser.

And then...Nothing!

No liquid, no foam, not even one drop!

You feel so dirty! Like you should hang a sign around your neck that screams, "Unclean!"

So you begin an all out search for someone somewhere that has Germ-X strapped to their fanny packs for such occasions. These faulty mechanisms attached to the walls of public facilities have only provided false hope for clean hands.

Oh the joy of the tingling sensation of 99.9% of the world's germs falling to their deaths on your newly sanitized hands!

Seriously though! Do we really think that there's an endless supply of liquid goodness being dispensed from that small bottle of sanitizing therapeutic lather?

Neglecting its use or even over-extending its purpose can create a faulty mechanism that develops cracks and malfunctions. We have to quit abusing and ignoring its intended design.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a soap dispenser? Of course not! That's ridiculous!

But have you ever thought of yourself as a love dispenser?

I don't mean the sappy kind of love where romance novels bode. That's probably more like lust.

We each have an ability to dispense love in such a way that others feel its effects and it creates an affinity, a pureness, a cleanliness, an acceptance that causes them to crave it even more.

But the problem with many of us is that we let love rest in our bodies like Germ-X in a bottle and we are constantly saturating and lathering ourselves with self-love. And when we become consumed with ourselves we begin neglecting others and cracks begin to develop in our relationships with those that actually mean the most to us.

On the other hand, we can become so generous in pumping out our love for others that our love meter becomes broken and we are simply running on empty with no sign of re-filling in sight. And when this happens those closest to us will likewise suffer the results of our misused bottles of affection.

The reason I'm so passionate about soap dispensers is that I've been on the receiving end of a sanitizing station malfunction. And it's disappointing!

And the reason I'm so passionate about being a better love dispenser is because I've been on both the giving and receiving end of a love dispensing malfunction. And it's heartbreaking!

Our lives require a constant, mutual filling and dispensing of love and affection. We have been created with an innate desire to belong and feel loved. And when we learn to find a healthy balance of giving and receiving love toward others we will begin to recognize that we are fulfilling our God-given design.