The Cracked Pot

I heard this parable years ago, and then one of our subscribers brought it back to my attention recently.  It is a little longer than most M-Power messages, but worth the read.  Thanks Ken!

An  elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole  which she carried across her neck. One of  the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.     At the  end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived  only half full.   For a  full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a  half pots of water.     Of  course , the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.     But the  poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it  could only do half of what it had been made to do.   After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one  day by the stream     ‘I am  ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all  the way back to your house.'   The old  woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path,  but not on the other pot's side?'     ‘That's  because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your  side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'     For two  years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the  table.   Without  you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the  house.'   Each of  us has our own unique flaw. 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.     

Forward this one to all of your crack pot friends today.