Cracked Pot

A friend, Beth, sent me this story. I love it. After the story I'll tell you about the 'cracked pot' I made, pictured here.
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An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,
each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.   

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily,
with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.  
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. 

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure,
it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side
causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.' 

The old woman smiled,
'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path,
but not on the other pot's side?'
'That's because I have always known about your flaw,
so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,
and every day while we walk back, you water them.' 

'For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers
to decorate the table.  Without you being just the way you are, 
there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw.
But it's the cracks and flaws we each have
that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.  

You've just got to take each person for what they are
and look for the good in them.   
SO, to all of my crackpot friends,
have a great day and remember to smell the flowers
on your side of the path!
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I was in a small group of gals - we've grown spiritually together. One evening we had some clay, and just did a quicky project of forming a pot that we imagined representing ourselves. So I did mine with very bright colors. I wasn't thinking of me as bright and colorful, but that I'm not a black and white person, nor gray, and prefer color (and that's not in dress, but my outlook on life)! And I intentionally did create holes and cracks, because I had just come to understand...

In striving to live so 'right', striving for perfection ... it seemed futile and I realized Pharisaical. The Pharisees were the main people Jesus railed upon. They didn't recognize their need. I started recognizing the beauty of my imperfections, realizing the more cracks, the more places for the light of Jesus to shine through.

But now, I'm going to be thinking beyond light, to dripping water that helps give life ...