Heart Tales is a monthly email newsletter of stories and resources that offer healing to hurting people.

Heart Tales is published by Jim Cyr,
an American Baptist Minister,
storyteller, and mobile crisis response
worker

Here’s a story that brings a new perspective to what it means to be imperfect, flawed, damaged. It’s called “The Story of the Cracked Pot. ” It goes like this:

A water-bearer in India had two large pots. Each hung on opposite ends of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other was perfect. The latter 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. Every day for a full two years, the water-bearer delivered only one and a half pots of water.

The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, because it fulfilled magnificently the purpose for which it had been made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection, miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After the second year of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, the unhappy pot spoke to the water-bearer one day by the stream.
“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you,” the pot said.

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your mater’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all this work and you don’t get full value from 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 cracked pot took notice of the beautiful wildflowers on the side of the path, bright in the sun‚s glow, and the sight cheered it up a bit.

The bearer said to the pot,”Did you notice there were flowers only on your side of the path, not on the other pot’s side? That is because I have always known about your flaw, and I have taken advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day, as we have walked back from the stream, you have 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 had this beauty to grace his house.”

The first time I heard this story I knew it was my story, because I am a cracked pot. For many years I was ashamed of myself. I was born with a lot of cracks in my pot: five different congenital defects from my nose to my toes. These defects required seventeen surgeries and one hundred and six days of hospitalization to correct. Beginning when I was a few hours old and lasting through age thirty-six, the operations involved pain and humiliation that left a crack in my soul as well as my body.

My parents did not accept cracked pots. They did not welcome me cracks and all. Unable to deal with the pressure of getting their “cracked pot” “fixed” they would abandoned me in my hospital room before each surgery to endure the anticipation, preparation, and procedure myself. My peers teased me. They made fun of my cracks. Being a cracked pot was lonely and humiliating. Sometimes I felt like smashing my cracked pot to bits.
But one day I met someone who gave me the strength to meet the challenges of the imperfections I was born with. His name is Jesus. He always knew about my flaws and took advantage of them. He poured his healing grace into my cracked pot. That healing grace lifted me out of a pit of despair, filled me with the power of God, and gave me hope. He gifted me to be a teller of stories that give other cracked pots strength to meet the challenges of their imperfections.

Without me being just the way I am, He would not have had this beauty to grace His world.

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The origin of the story of the cracked pot is unknown.
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Have you ever felt like damaged goods? Have you allowed your “cracks” to make you better or bitter? How have your „cracks‰ blessed the world?

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,[cracked pots] that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)

The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1990, 2000. 227 pages.

Apart from the Bible, no book in my library has done more for my understanding of how the grace of God transforms broken people than The Ragamuffin Gospel. A must read for all cracked pots!

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“…your newsletter is a wonderful resource, and I hope that many will subscribe to it.”
Dr. Robert Béla Wilhelm, Storyfest Ministry
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Check out Jim’s website at www.hearttales.net

Work continues on Jim’s first book, A Beggar at the Door of God’s Mercy. A Story about the Triumph of Grace Over Abuse. Watch for ordering information in future issues of Heart Tales.

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In the next issue of Heart Tales “The Sack”