The cracked pot

Going along with my previous post on comparing ourselves with others, I've been reading a lot for my education classes. Right now I'm in the middle of different ways to help English Language Learners. It made me think back to my time in the Spain MTC when I had two French speaking companions. One spoke English fairly well, but the other hardly knew 5 words. Sister Fricard was asked to speak in church and she wanted to do it in English even though the MTC president told her that she could give her talk in French. Sister Hunter and Sister Fricard took this story of the cracked pot and translated it from French to English and then I read over it to make sure it flowed, then I practiced with Sister Fricard. I was on the front row listening to her, praying for her and just loving her as she read this story. She did so great! I can still hear her saying "crack-ed" pot. That -ed sound was really hard for her. It's one of my favorite memories from the MTC and the from the mission overall. That companionship was a time we worked together despite our language barriers, overcame obstacles and cheered for each other to succeed. I love this story for what it actually says and for what it represents to me.   

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.

That is exactly what God does with each of us. He knows our flaws and our weaknesses. He sees our struggles, our heartaches, our fears. And he works with them. He plants flowers and allows us to water them with our tears. He knows our hearts. The people we long to be. He see our efforts and He doesn't compare us to the "perfect" pot. He takes us as we are and makes the very best out of it. Don't be so hard on yourself little cracked pot, He is working a wonder within you.