Cracked Pot

I posted this story to my travel blog a couple of years ago but I think it bears repeating here.  I almost feel foolish posting this as I am sure most everybody is familiar with the story.  However, I first heard it only 5 years ago, and it touched me deeply.  There may be someone out there in cyberspace who needs to read this story.
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I have tried to find the origin of this story but, in doing the research, found there are many permutations and differing theories of the origins of this tale. So just let it be said, the story is not original with me and you may have heard it a slightly different way at some time.

The Story of the Cracked Pot:

Long long ago, a very rich man owned a beautiful mansion. He was a kind master and gentle with his servants. His water bearer would go every day to bring water from the spring to the mansion. The servant would hook two large pots to the ends of a pole, place the pole on his shoulders and make the trek to the spring.

The servant would fill the pots up to the brim with water but every day he only had one and one half pots of water by the time he got back to the master’s mansion. It seems one of the pots was cracked, and along the way home, would loose a portion of its water.

One day, as the servant prepared for his trek to the spring, the pot asked the servant,
“Why do you keep filling me with water when you know I will leak? The master has many vessels and you could easily get a new pot.”

The servant did not answer the pot. He just put the vessels on his pole and began his trip to get the water. On the way back to the mansion, he said to the pot,

“Have you ever noticed all the beautiful wild flowers along this path?”

“Why yes,” said the pot, “But what has that to do with me?”

“Have you noticed that the flowers grow on only one side of the path?” asked the servant.

“No, I never paid much attention to that,” replied the pot.

“These beautiful flowers are picked to adorn the master’s table,” explained the servant. “Without them the mansion would be dreary. The flowers bring beauty and joy to all who enter the mansion.”

“That’s wonderful, I never knew that.”

The servant began to explain to the cracked pot.

“These flowers grow only on one side of the path because, as we walk along this path, the water that leaks from your imperfection waters the ground. The seeds sprout up and become beautiful flowers. It is from your imperfection that beauty grows.”

The pot was silent as he thought about what the servant had told him. He began to see himself in a whole new light as he realized that what he saw as imperfection was actually a benefit to the master. From that day on the pot saw himself in a whole new light and no longer worried over his imperfections. In fact, he was quite comfortable with them and began to focus on the beauty that lined his path rather than the imperfections in his vessel.

Are you a Cracked Pot? Perhaps the imperfections that you perceive in yourself are there for a purpose and are actually bringing beauty to those around you.

A couple of years ago, I was searching for a cracked pot with

which to illustrate this story. We stopped at a wonderful little pottery shop near Walker, CA on Hwy 395. This shop had many examples of native American pottery, most made by the Navajo people. While I did not find a pot with a crack in it, I did find one that had a bad chip. He sold it to me for half price and I keep it on display in my hutch to remind myself to not take my imperfections too seriously.

Always remember that God uses imperfect people.  You don't have to look very far in the Bible to find examples of this.  Remember too that if we are focusing on OUR imperfections then we are looking inward when we should be looking upward to the perfection of our Master.  We are all imperfect and regardless of one's flaw, God can and will use each one of us if we focus on Him and not on our imperfections.

2 Corinthians 12:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  (courtesy http://www.biblegateway.com)