Story of a Cracked Pot

A water bearer in India had two large pots; each hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while 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, 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 in 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 ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "For the past two years, I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value for your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Our lives are quite similar to that cracked pot. We are imperfect and broken; and at times, our sins and failures can really discourage us so badly that we feel like worthless nobodies. We then long for a fresh start, a new beginning. And what do we do? We strive hard to do more good works, thinking that somehow those good works can compensate our past. That’s legalism; definitely not God’s way of personal revival. However, that’s just our human nature, isn’t it? It seems so natural for us to lapse back into legalism every now and again, thinking that that is the right way of achieving His acceptance and blessings once again.

God wants to send a revival into our hearts, but He doesn’t need a clean heart to do that. All He needs is a contrite heart. A contrite heart may be grieving as a result of sin’s consequences, but at the same time, it knows that the only way it can be revived and refreshed again is by going humbly to God’s throne of grace for only He can fill, satisfy and mend the broken heart.

We should perhaps quit worrying about what we’re not and just give God what we are. No matter how cracked up we are, I am convinced that He has the power to mend every single cracks we have, but that’s if we will let Him. Think about this- it is because we’re imperfect that God has something to work with. Plus, it is only through cracks that light can begin to shine through.

Embracing forgiveness

Time and time again, we read of God’s boundless grace & mercy. We know that because of Christ, we are safe from all condemnation of our sins, as if they had not been committed at all. God deliberately remove them so that they cannot affect us any more; so that we need not feel guilty for our past sins. Yet, we all struggle at times to accept His forgiveness. Deep within our hearts we struggle to forgive ourselves even thought we believe that we have total forgiveness for our sins in Jesus Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I know I struggle a lot with self-forgiveness. Guilt is truly a strong emotion that if we’re not careful, we can allow it to outshine the great, or u can say gargantuan, gift of pardon and restoration that God freely provides. His mercy & grace is so great that there are no boundaries at all, infinite. However, we tend to think that our past actions are so terrible that God cannot forgive us, and that is, as a matter of fact, a tragic error.

It is also possible that sometimes we get so blinded by the outcome of our sins that the feeling of guilt stays alive in our minds. The negative consequences we bear as a result of our mistakes prevent us from fully understanding and receiving the miracle of divine forgiveness. The miracle of God’s forgiveness is that, with His help, we can be forgiven even though we still remember our past sins. Forgetting should probably never be a test of whether our sins are forgiven since lessons from our past sins are to be remembered.

Each of us is a valuable child of His. We mean the world to Him. We are deeply loved and precious to Him. That’s why we have the liberty of grace; the liberty of His glory; the freedom from fears of condemnation and guilt. He doesn’t want us to be haunted by insults or the damning effects of our sins. Neither does He want us to look down on ourselves and feel unworthy. What He wants is for us to bear in mind that our value doesn’t spring from our own feelings, but from His. He says that we are valuable and that should be enough. This is the truth.

Giving our best for the benefit of all

It sometimes can be quite frustrating when children don’t seem to do the work that they are supposed to do. Well, of course, if it’s a fun activity or game that they are asked to participate in, they will be more than willing to do so. But, when “less fun” responsibilities are given to them, all of a sudden, you lose them; you lose their cooperation.

When situations like this arise, I feel sorry for those children who seem to be trying their best to carry out the task given to them even though they may not particularly be interested in it, especially when it’s a group work. It just isn’t fair that some are putting in their best effort while others are idling and uncooperative. At times, I feel like punishing these kids, but then again, it’s quite worrying to punish them in order to get them motivated.

I guess it is the same in the body of Christ. The body of Christ is composed of different parts and each part has a responsibility to perform. All of us are the different parts which make up that body and if each of us do not do the things that we are supposed to, the body cannot function as well as it ought to be. Even if we do acknowledge our responsibilities, yet do them out of reluctance and half-heartedness, our attitude and actions will still be reflecting the total opposite of God’s nature. Plus, it does seem unjust too, if one is striving for the best, while others are contented with anything less than that.

We all have the same goal; we live in the same family. However, perhaps every now and then, we need to ask ourselves how well we are contributing to the body, for we need to jog our memory a bit to bear in mind that all our actions, be it in words, thoughts or deeds, reflect not only upon our individual self, but also upon our Heavenly Father.

We probably should start realizing that we are all indeed part of the same team, same family, one body, His body, so that we can begin to leave a lasting positive impact on the people around us. We may be plainly different people, but all are needed for the nourishment of the whole.

The lesson behind the pain

It is quite a painful lesson to learn from but, I can’t blame anyone or anything on something I’d done wrong myself. I can’t blame God either, because I know He doesn’t cause suffering. In His eyes, the car accident wasn’t an unexpected mishap; He knew it would happen. But, He allowed it to happen for certain reasons, reasons that I may not fully comprehend, but enough to know that it is for good reasons.

Now looking back to that fateful night, that night was perhaps the worst that I have ever experienced. As I was brought into the hospital and with the pain hitting me with great intensity, it was quite impossible to not think about death. At that moment, the danger of death seemed so close, but I was helpless to defend myself against it. I began to understood more why the Bible calls death the greatest enemy.

I wonder if God wanted to teach me a lesson on death. Death is as real as life, and ignoring it does not change it. So often, we choose to disregard the thought of death because it causes grief & heartaches; it can also suddenly disrupt the lives of our loved ones. But, perhaps God doesn’t want us to refuse thinking about death. To overlook death is to escape the reality of life.

Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Numbering our days doesn’t mean to arithmetically count the number of days we have to live for it’s not possible. However, it does mean to seriously consider the shortness of our days and to consider our latter end, what will become of us after we leave this world because thinking about death can teach us more about the value of life. It is because of Him that value is added to our lives and it is only in Him alone that we can find the most definite and secure answer for death.

Over the last few days, I had been scared and fearful, angry and frustrated at myself, but I thank God for walking with me. He knew very well how I felt and yet, He listened graciously to all my frustrations. He knows what it’s like to suffer and that’s why He was there to comfort me. He also gave me a caring family and a loving group of friends who have been continually accompanying, encouraging and praying for me. All their love and company kept my heart warm as they shared the pain with me too. So, thank you all for your love and support. I know some of you would have loved to come keep me company, but cannot. That's ok. The sincerity from your SMS-es and calls already speaks a lot of your concern and care for me. =)

The pain is not totally gone, but I'm feeling much better now. I believe that God is still working to piece all the broken pieces left to create something stronger than before. After all, He has taken my anger and slowly replacing it with peace; He has taken my fear and slowly transforming it into confidence; He has taken my anxieties and slowly turning it into hope; He is keeping His promise by not giving me more than what I can bear. More so, He is meeting all my needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.