"The Cracked Pot"

A dear friend recently passed along this parable. It is a great expression of an important lesson I have been relearning lately. Let me share it with you!

The Cracked Pot
(author unknown)

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots 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. But the other pot had a crack in it and always arrived only half full. Of course the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfections and miserable that it was only able to accomplish half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer, by the stream, one day. “I am ashamed of myself and I want to apologise to you” said the pot. “Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?” “Well” said the pot, “For these past two years, I have only been able to deliver half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. You do all this work and because of my flaws, you don’t get full value for your efforts.” The water carrier felt sorry for the old cracked pot and so he said “Don’t worry about it. Just look at the flowers on the way back to the master’s house and enjoy them” So, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers at the side of the path, and this cheered it up a little. But at the end of the trail it still felt bad because, again half the load had leaked out, . and so once more it apologised to the bearer for its failure. The bearer replied “Didn’t you notice that there were only flowers at your side of the path and not at he other 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 walked back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I’ve been able to pick beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being the way you are, he would not have had this beauty to grace his house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But if we give our weaknesses to the Lord, He will use even them, to grace His Father’s table. In God’s great economy, nothing goes to waste. So as we seek to minister together and as God calls you to the task He has appointed for you, let’s not be afraid of our weaknesses for God can use them to His Honour and Glory. As He says in 2Cor 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”