Full

Thanksgiving is a day when many of us know what it means to feel full. Full tables, full plates, full homes. And yet, the kind of fullness we chase with food and celebration usually fades. The meal ends. The dishes pile up. The leftovers grow smaller each day.

And yet, even on a day of abundance, we can still feel empty.

Sometimes we come to Thanksgiving with worries on our minds.
Sometimes we are frustrated with how our week has gone, we are impatient with our kids, or our spouse, or our guests. We have past hurts.
Sometimes our hearts feel more crowded with stress than with gratitude.
Sometimes we see the blessings on our table but forget the One who gave them.

Those moments show us that by ourselves, we are not full. We are people who need to be filled.

And that’s exactly why John, at the beginning of his Gospel, writes about the fullness that Jesus has come to bring. We don’t come to God with arms full of goodness—we come empty. And Jesus comes full.

“From His fullness…” That means we don’t create our own fullness. We receive it.

Jesus comes full of forgiveness, and we come with sins that need forgiving.
Jesus comes full of love, and we come with love that falls short.
Jesus comes full of peace, and we come with anxieties we can’t shake.
Jesus comes full of strength, and we come with weakness we can’t hide.

And He gives.
He gives freely.

He pours out His fullness into our emptiness.

On the cross, Jesus emptied Himself so that our hearts could be full—full of mercy, full of hope, full of life that never ends. Thanksgiving becomes richer when we remember that the deepest blessings on this day aren’t the ones on our plates, but the One who fills our hearts and our souls.

John doesn’t just say we receive grace. He says we receive “grace upon grace.”

Grace for our sins.
Grace for our failures.
Grace for our fears.
Grace for our families.
Grace for our futures.

God doesn’t give us just enough grace to get by—He overwhelms us with it. Layer upon layer, day after day, He keeps filling us. Even the moments when we complain, worry, or doubt become reminders that we need Him—and He is eager to give.

And when Jesus fills us, He doesn’t simply fill us to the brim. He fills us to overflow—so that His compassion, patience, kindness, and love spill out into the lives of others around us. Because full people become grateful people. And grateful people become gracious people.

This Thanksgiving, your table may be full, or it may be simpler than in years past. Your life may feel overflowing with blessings, or it may be a challenging season.

But no matter what this year has looked like, this remains true:
In Jesus, you are not empty.
You are not forgotten.
You are not alone.
You are not without hope.

In Jesus, you are full—truly full.
Because from His fullness, you have received grace upon grace.