The JOY of being a Cracked Pot

A few weeks ago, I changed the background of my blog to the beautiful clay pots that you see.  Reason being, I've been meaning to share this story for a while. I originally heard it my first year as a missioner at the CMC Comissioning Mass with Fr. Michael Bielecki, OSA.  That first year (as well as the second), we used it at the high school as a meditation and guide for the first-year retreat and even had an activity where the students took pieces of pre-broken pots (with one piece missing and one blank) and wrote parts of their journeys and stories on the pieces to symbolize their lives. They then -- very patiently! -- reconstructed the pots and we used them as votive candle holders.

I think every time I read the story, something new hits me-- it's like within its playful simplicity lies an honesty that is surprisingly appropriate to many a situation. I hope it has a message for you in the space you find yourself today.

In addition, one of my favorite musical artists is Jon McLaughlin. He has a powerful song called "Smack Into You." It is a love song-- but I like to think that practically every love song can be seen through the lens of our pursuit of God or God's pursuit of us.  So, if you'd like, listen to the song while reflecting on the story.  A YouTube recording can be found here: "Smack Into You." -JM

The Cracked Pot

- Author Unknown 

A water bearer in the Philippines had two large pots. Each hung on one end of a pole, which she carried across her shoulders. 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, on the other hand, 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 to her master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishment, being 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 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it 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. "I'm embarrassed."

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in her compassion she 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 wildflowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt terribly insecure 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.”


Each of us has our own unique “flaws.” We're all cracked pots. But if we allow it, God will use our flaws to grace the table. As God calls you to the tasks He has appointed for you, don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and allow God to take advantage of them, and you, too, can bring beauty to the pathway.
             
                                                               *      *      *

One of the things I love about this story is that it speaks to many of the questions that I ask myself as well as the negative self-talk that can create (as the desert mothers and fathers would say), a "great cloud of confusion" in our over-analyzing minds. Some include: Am I good enough? Why do I magnify my flaws and downplay my talents? Why am I so overly-apologetic?  But perhaps the one that gets me EVERY TIME is the role that comparison plays in the mind of the cracked pot.  I struggle so much with this, and I'd wager that it's more common than not.  Comparisons can be crippling. They can have the terrible effects of idealizing others and self-rejection.  In order to avoid this, "acknowledge your limitations, but claim your unique gifts and thereby live as an equal among equals." -HN 

The reason I included this song is because both the song and story convey an incredible sense of belonging; coming as you are; and an awareness and embrace of one's journey, wounds, and vulnerabilities that is so crucial to recognizing ourselves as God's beloved ones. That, along with the lyrics of "love is right in my path, in my grasp// and me and you belong// and I want to run smack into you" is just SO CLEAR to me: running to that place of belonging, that place of solitude and embrace, that place of acceptance for all that we are- nothing more and nothing less- is found within staking our identity as children of God.  Plus, Paul would really like the image of running (See Hebrews 12:1).

Another thing I find of note about this story is that the way it is narrated automatically asks the listener or reader to see him or herself in the place of the cracked pot. Naturally, this makes for deep personal reflection and insight.  After we think and pray over that image, however: 
                         What if we switch our attention to the image 
                                  of the water bearer? 

How are we called to go from recognizing ourselves in the cracked pot and then moved to action in the person of the water bearer? What does she have to teach us? Not only did she recognize how the "flaw" had the potential to be GIFT, but she ACTED upon it. Furthermore, she illustrates a NON-COMPETITIVE NATURE and say that the broken pot was therefore better than the full one--  without saying it, she implied that the different gifts were BOTH of different value, yet still needed for the master. BOOM. There you have it: the Mystical Body of Christ and the value of Many Spiritual Gifts (See 1 Corinthians 12).  Another thing that the water bearer embodies is PATIENCE: for two years she prepared and silently waited for the gift of the cracked pot to recognize its gift. It needed to be unearthed in the same way that understanding ourselves and the way we were created to be comes through time and patience.

In conclusion, I couldn't help but realize that this story talks about solitude, community, and ministry. The movement from claiming our "broken pot-ness" in solitude with our Creator moves us to complete the community and then act in our own ministries.  Wow, I'm starting to think all my posts always go back to Nouwen. This article really has colored my life (Thanks, Gina!): Moving from Solitude To Community To Ministry

Peace to you and your families!
-Mish

Image from: http://anandyatri.com/?p=274

Joy: Vocation Part II

Hi, Everyone!   I've been forwarding this around ever since it was forwarded to me, but I somehow failed to post it here! Enjoy this "Part II" of a previous blog entry on vocation... Part I is found here: Joy: Vocation Lies in Relationship

Peace to you and your families this Advent and Christmas season!
-Michelle

Joy: Life is an Opportunity...

Because this is too long for Twitter: 

"Life is a God-given opportunity to become who we are, to affirm our own true spiritual nature, claim our truth, appropriate and to integrate the reality of our being, but most of all, to say 'Yes' to the One who calls us the Beloved." -Henri

Joy: Gaudete Sunday, Joy Sunday!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again, rejoice!" -Philippians 4:4.

Gaudete Sunday Mass is one of my favorite liturgical celebrations all year! Clearly, because of the ties with Joy, and the pink/rose liturgical color, and the fact that it's during my favorite season of Advent, but also because I feel like I always am given a new insight of some sort during this week. So let's see what we discover today and this week.

The quote above is not today's responsorial psalm, but it nevertheless clearly embodies the message of joy.  The call to rejoice and verses following this urging (verses 4-8, NAB) are:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again, rejoice!

Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

make your requests known to God.

Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your 

hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

It seems to follow, then, that joy for Paul (and the members of the Church in Philippi) is a kind of joy that is complete because of kindness that is visible to everyone.  They rejoice because the Lord is near (although their understanding of "near" was more of an eschatological "near"-- Paul believed that the Second Coming was imminent-- it was coming ANY DAY!).  The joy they embody has no room for anxieties.  He instructs them to pray with petition and thanksgiving so that the peace of God will be bestowed on them.  Why do I love this? A few reasons: first of all, Paul stresses thanksgiving as part of rejoicing.  Secondly, because it shows how important reflection is to fully receive the gift of joy.  

Thanksgiving: Countless times in the Scriptures, Jesus prays to the Father in thanksgiving: after the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John and the multiplication of the loaves in Mark, for example.  Thanksgiving is the vocal response to a gift.  Having a joyful attitude of abundance includes living a life in which gifts are recognized as gifts-- that all is seen as gift.  Christ came so that humans “might have life and have it more abundantly.”  It should be no surprise, then, that the very word Catholics use for the Sacrament of the Altar is eucharist, thanksgiving—Jesus freely offers himself as sacrifice, and the only appropriate response is gratitude. Jesus does not insist on this childlike ‘say please’, ‘say thank you’, because otherwise the gifts would be refused, but in order that they may be recognized as gifts. Michael Downey writes that " all that I am and all that I have is first and finally gift.  Prayer is a way of living with, in, and from that gift."  Living within a spirit of thanksgiving induces joy because how else can we respond to gifts, but with an attitude of joy and appreciation?

Reflection: Joy is an equal-opportunity gift and virtue: introverts and extroverts get pieces of this pie. Although many times when I think of joy, I think of an extroverted zeal for life, I am reminded by this passage that joy also holds a highly reflective message. Joy is not only happiness or giddiness, which are more superficial, but joy is a deeply rooted way of being. A way o living in childlike expectation of things that "we could never have asked for or imagined." And there is an element of reflection in that. Perhaps this is why the Willowtree People statue "Joy" looks like this:

Yep. She looks like she is thinking about "these things" -- the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious things that Paul speaks of.... and I'd also take a gander that she's also contemplating the beautiful. So, as we wait in joyful hope this Advent, let's not forget that joy an thanksgiving go hand-in-hand and that reflection is needed both in our interior hearts and our outward actions.

So Happy Gaudete Sunday and Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! :) Awesome.

On a totally separate note, I found this amazing blog, run by a sister-- Sister Mary Martha, in fact. I love how she writes with humor, wit, and loving insights. Here's one from way back in 2007 about the Sisters in Habit Situation: Ask Sister Mary Martha  Enjoy! 

Peace,

-Michelle

(And yes, I borrowed the great Advent wreath graphic from Villanova's Office of Mission and Ministry website. Thank you, Chris Janosik. He does a great job with the website!)