You may remember a time when you’d pull into the gas station, a bell would ding and an attendant would come out to your car and you’d say “Fill ‘er up!” The attendant would then unscrew the gas cap and begin to fill your vehicle up with fuel. Now we pump our own gas and have many choices of gasoline grades to match the type of vehicle we drive.

When I was the hostess at a restaurant in my teen years, I would often walk around the lobby with a pot of coffee in each hand. As I would walk from table to table, the response was either “No thank you” or “Fill ‘er up”. Each time I would pour the coffee, I would smile and exchange pleasantries with the customers.

Lately, I feel like my tank has been running on empty. I’m exhausting myself like a hamster in a gerbil cage as I juggle work, family, and church ministry. Sometimes, I honestly forget to eat a meal because I’m so focused on what I’m doing. I have discovered I’m short tempered, physically weary, and emotionally spent by the end of the day. When challenges arise or changes occur to my schedule, I’m not as easy to work with.

Then God nudged me last week during my quiet time in the morning with Him. While I had my Bible on my lap and coffee in hand, I was still “attached” to my phone. My quiet time wasn’t actually quiet. I was distracted by early morning text messages and emails. It took my focus off of God and that’s when I realized that I wasn’t really “filling up my tank” with what I needed to face the day ahead.

I set my phone upside down and refocused my attention. I began to “fill ‘er up” with what God wanted me to have. Love, knowledge, discernment, and righteousness. This fuel is guaranteed to never run dry and be the best source of fuel for life. What are you filling your tank with? I encourage you to ask God to fill your tank with His premium grade fuel!

“And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,  so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11