Innovation

THE CRACKED WATER POT

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on one end of a

pole which 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, the

cracked pot 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?"

"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 master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do

all of 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 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."

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots.

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. There

is a lot of good out there.

There is a lot of good in us! Blessed are the flexible, for they

shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the

different people in your life! Or as I like to think of it--if it

hadn't been for the crackpots in my life, it would have been pretty

boring and not so interesting...

Thank you all my crackpot friends...

~~~~~~

Aren't flowers in our lives a delightful byproduct of diversity?

God's blessings on our cracks!

Gooseberries!

 Each time we walk our trails now I have to stop by the gooseberry patch to see how the little green berries are coming along.

The patch is rather small, but is expanding a bit now that we are sort of taking care of it - about all that means is that we're trying to keep the sawtooth briars out of it. There are several other scattered gooseberry vines around our woods, but this is the largest group, and it is right at a fork in the trails, so it is easy to enjoy.

Last year the birds ate all the gooseberries before they matured, and they probably will again. Mother used to bake at least one gooseberry cobbler each year. We didn't have any gooseberry vines in our southwest Missouri woods, but they grew around the old lead mining dumps around Granby, and Mother and my Grandma Nunn would go out and pick enough for cobblers.

I can't think of gooseberries without recalling an incident many years ago in a restaurant in Sarcoxie, Missouri. That's a little town east of Joplin. For some reason Helen and I were over that way and stopped in for coffee and dessert. On their menu was gooseberry pie. I had not had any for a few years, so I ordered a piece. It was so good, I ordered a second piece. It was so bad I wished I had not ordered it.

Actually, the two pieces were from the same pie and tasted the same. If you're not familiar with gooseberries, they are - well - tart. In fact, one writer said of them: "…they were extremely sour: so sour, indeed, that - as the Germans say - they draw the holes in your socks together." By the time I finished the second piece, I thought the gooseberries must have eaten holes in my socks! A little gooseberry pie is good but is enough - a lot of gooseberry pie is waaaay too much!

Life kinda treats us this way sometimes. We think we want something - in fact we're sure we want it. We get a little of it, and we want some more. Before we know it, we've gotten way more than we wanted or needed. It is easy to get too much of "things."

Solomon, in his memoirs, wrote an intriguing thought: I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner" (Ecclesiastes 5:13 NIV). Nowhere does the Bible tell us that being impoverished is godly, but it does teach us over and over that we need to balance our desires and our needs and that as

God blesses us, we need to share with others rather than hoarding to ourselves.

Maybe it will be a good thing if the birds do get all the gooseberries from our patch again this year. Tell you what - if they don't I'll share with you.

-Mark Senter

Obstacles Along Life's Trails 

For several days the fallen tree had lain across one of our trails. Because it had taken down several strands of sawtooth briars with it, we could not conveniently go around it, so we walked to that point, then turned around and retraced our steps. Finally last Friday we took tools with us on our trail walk and removed the tree.

 Having the obstacle removed brought satisfaction. This was not the first obstacle that had fallen across one of our trails, but it was the most difficult to remove. Twigs and small branches fall regularly. I usually carry a walking stick and can flick those hindrances out of the way without bending over. Occasionally a larger dead limb comes down, though, and requires more effort to remove it. The present obstacle was a dead blackjack tree about six inches in diameter at the base and was approximately twenty- five feet tall. Took awhile to get it out of the way.

Several things can cause the obstacles we find along our trails. Box turtles even sometimes cause minor obstacles as they plow their way along dislodging insects or whatever it is they eat from the debris covering the trails. Primarily, though, it is wind that causes the obstacles. 

Obstacles in life's pathways can come from a variety of causes, too. Paul wrote about such a problem from other people: "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. (Romans 16:7 NIV). Not much doubt about how we should handle that kind of obstacle, is there? 

The writer of Proverbs also speaks of obstacles: "I will mock when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you" (Proverbs 1:27). Interestingly, this is part of a passage in which wisdom is speaking. Wisdom is promising not to answer, when ignoring wisdom in the first place brought the obstacles. An interesting concept. It suggests that we may cause our own problems and obstacles by ignoring the wisdom that God has given us. 

Sometimes obstacles and whirlwinds do come without being caused from our ignoring of wisdom or any apparent punishment meted out to us by God. Many of the obstacles in our life's pathway do, though, like the twigs, limbs, and even trees blown into our wooded trails, come into our lives because we ignore the wisdom God has given us in His Word and continues to give us daily by His Spirit. Don't ignore it!