Purpose in the Cracks

“You have purpose, just as you are. You are needed, just as you are. You bring something that no one else can, just as you are...cracks and all.”

Loren Thornburg

A crack is a line or surface where something has been split without breaking it into separate parts. There are many good cracks like cracks in the window that let the air through, you can crack a book and begin reading it, and you can crack up in laughter. If you crack a dish or crack a pot it doesn’t seem like such a good thing. But, there is a story of a cracked pot that changes that. In short a water-bearer carried one perfect pot and the other had a crack in it. So when the water-bearer delivered the two pots one was full while the cracked pot was only half full. The cracked pot felt ashamed that it could only do half of what the other pot could do. Perceiving it as a failure the cracked pot apologized to the water bearer. However the water bearer pointed out the flowers that were found only on the side that the cracked pot was carried on. The water bearer knew about the crack and took advantage of it and was able to pick beautiful flowers because of it. There was a purpose for the crack in the pot. You never know what you see as a crack and a failure in yourself is watering the ground for flowers to grow if you would only stop comparing and start seeing you have purpose...just as you are...cracks and all!

“The Lord will comfort Israel again and make her deserts blossom. Her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as Eden--the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found there. Lovely songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

Isaiah 51:3 NLT

The cracked pot gave water where there would not have been water were it not for the cracks in the pot. That water made what would have been just dirt into beautiful flowers! So we see in the story that we can trust the water bearer knew what he was doing with the pots that He chose! The water bearer was aware of the cracks in the pot. He was not caught off guard or surprised, but He knew and used them to make something beautiful. Yet, how often do we look at our own cracks and see them as failures and decide that we must be wrong because of them. God knew and God knows. He knew all about you before He chose to carry you, He knows who you are now and knows what you will do and who you will be and still He choses to carry you and use you. Will you trust the Lord as your water bearer enough not to compare and not to decide you are a failure because you are cracked but to know that He knew and knows and still He chose. All he asks is that you let Him carry you, trusting the One who makes deserts blossom, the wilderness beautiful, and gardens out of nothing!