Inspirations - The Little Cracked Pot

I found this little story at http://www.inspirationalstories.wordpress.com/. No author or source was cited.

There was once a water bearer who had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which, he carried across his shoulders. One of the pots had a crack in it, but the other pot was perfect, and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, while the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made, But the poor cracked pot was very ashamed of its imperfection, and was miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do, or so it thought.
The cracked pot, after two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
“I am very ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”
“Why?” asked the water bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“For the past two years, I have only been able to deliver half of my real capacity, because this crack in my side allows water to leak out all the way back to the master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the cracked pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and compassionately said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
As they went up the hill, the old cracked pot did notice the sun shining on the beautiful wild flowers growing along the path, and this cheered it some. However, at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had again leaked out half its load, and so it apologized to the water bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and put it to good use. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path (for the return trip), and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For over two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. If you weren’t the way you are, he wouldn’t have the flowers for his house.”

No, the moral of the story is not that I’m a crack-pot, and shame on you for thinking that! The moral is, of course, that we all have flaws, but even our flaws can be put to good use. In fact, the things that we see as flaws in ourselves or others, may not be flaws at all. God made each one of us different and unique. It’s up to us to put the talents and abilities that He gave us to good use.

God decided to take away my sight, maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time, but if He hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have come to know Him the way I do, and I would probably not have started this blog. Some people might see blindness as a flaw, others might not. It’s all in your attitude and how you perceive the world. So, take a moment and ask yourself, is your pot half empty, or is it half full?

Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

*Notice it doesn’t say anything about using your talents to make money or gain prestige.

My History

Hi there! If you’re reading this then I’ll assume you’ve read my first two posts. If you haven’t, you really should to give you a little background on why I created this blog. You’ll find older posts below this one. Go on, it’ll only take you a minute and I promise I won’t go on without you

All done? You’re a fast reader! Well, now that we’re all on the same page (pun intended) let’s get started!

It’s hard to know where to begin. I suppose I should tell you a little of my history. They say that if you don’t study the past you are doomed to repeat it. That is so true! It’s okay to make mistakes but if you don’t learn something from those mistakes then you’re really in trouble.

My childhood was pretty typical. I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. That almost sounds like a cliché doesn’t it? Well, I won’t bore you with long descriptions of farm life in the Midwest but there are a couple of points that bear explaining.

The two sides of my family were almost complete opposites. On Mom's side were the wholesome church-goers. On Dad’s side were the drinking and swearing farmers. I have a great deal of respect for farmers. Dad’s family were honest and hard working, but they didn’t know God. That was fine with me as a child because I didn’t know Him either.

It was Mom, however, that was in charge of raising us kids and her rule was “As long as you live in this house, you’ll go to church”. So we went to church every Sunday.

I can’t speak for my siblings here, but I only went because I had to. Church was boring and, as far as I was concerned, a waste of a morning when I could have slept in. I learned the Golden Rule, and stories like “Noah’s Ark” and “Jonah and the Whale”, but I never learned about God; about who and what He really is. That wasn’t because I had bad teachers, it was just because I didn’t care. When I was old enough to choose for myself, I quit going to church and never looked back.

After that my life was perfect and idyllic. NOT! No, during the years of my early adulthood I caused a lot of problems for myself and sometimes for other people as well. I was very bad at managing money and so I never had any. Also, I had a habit of making bad decisions. I bounced around from place to place and job to job, always struggling and fighting to pay my bills.

Now, here are the two points I would like to make.

Firstly, even when I had turned my back on God, He was still looking out for me. I never had to live on the streets, and I never went hungry (although I did live on mac ‘n’ cheese and hot dogs for a while). My basic needs were always met.

Secondly, look at my life now. I am actively seeking out God. It was my mother’s nature that won out in the end rather than my father’s. Her steadfast persistence in taking us kids to church every Sunday was eventually rewarded. As it turns out, some of that stuff penetrated my thick head after all.

Wow! You know, I never really thought of things this way until just now as I typed it. What a perfect example of how God’s nature wins out in the end.

Well, with that revelation, I think I will close for today. I hope you got as much out of this as I did! :-)

See you next time okay?