Broken Pots & Family Heirlooms

To my Readers:

In my home we have this decorative bowl that sits as a centerpiece for our living room table. Inside this bowl is this ceramic ball that is a family heirloom. This ball is roughly the size of a tangerine and just looks fragile. What is interesting about this ball, is that if you look close enough, you'll realize that its broken, and someone had super-glued it back together. "Why do we keep this?" I often ask myself, but I do not have the heart to throw it out. Many times we have this brokenness in our lives that we hold onto and try to fix, acting as though the obvious cracks weren't there.

We find in the scriptures this prophet named Jeremiah whom God tells to visit a potter. We read in Jeremiah 18:3-4, "So I did as He told me and found the potter working on his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over."

As I began to think about the broken pots we hold onto, we often try to fix them, super-glue the pieces, but they will never be the same. Imagine trying to put soil and a plant into this broken pot. If the weight of the soil doesn't break the pot-it will never hold water as it had before. It will leak out everywhere. What we end up doing is turning the pot to hide its brokenness and put it on display as a "decorative heirloom."

What we know about Potter's work is that once a pot is finished and dried-if it broke, there was no fixing it. It is thrown out with the garbage; however a new pot is then made. Instead of holding onto our own attempted fixed pots- if we take our broken pots at the foot of Jesus, the finest Potter of the world, in all our brokenness and let it go, he can make something brand new. So often our lives don't turn out as we planned and so we try to fix it or act as though nothing is wrong even though water is pouring out through the cracks. However, if we look we find Jesus waiting for us to let our pots go. Leave your broken pot at the foot of the Cross. Forgive those who have hurt you, put aside your past, and come to Christ, whom is ready to build something new.



Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule
"So I did as He told me and found the potter working on his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over." Jeremiah 18:3-4, NLT

Free Coffee & Smiles

To My Readers,

There is this little coffee shop within walking distance of my home that I just happen to love. One of the things that attracts me to it is the home-like vibe- it is quite a mom & pop kind of place. The staff here knows me by name and even more so, knows my order, meaning I come in way to often. Most days I visit to read, write, and relax; however, something quite different happened this past week.

While I was sitting and reading through a book, I heard a quiet voice ask me something. At first I didn’t realize I was being addressed so when I looked up, I found a member of the staff standing right in front of me with a drink in hand. “Would you like this drink?" He went on to say, "I made it, however I forgot to make a special change someone had ordered, and I figured you’d enjoy it.”

Interestingly enough, it made me think of the Apostle Paul. You see Paul writes a letter to a man named Philemon in Colossae. He at one point writes about something similar to what just happened. “And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God’s people” (Philemon 6-7, NLT).

It was really something small and simple; however, this made my day. It completely added a skip to my step for the rest of that afternoon. It then made me think, how often do I do things for others? How often do I love people for no reason other than to love them? Are we putting generosity into action daily? When we think that our actions and attitudes have the power to completely change someone’s day, it really starts to put things into perspective. Furthermore, our actions and attitudes reflect Christ in our lives. Therefore, as we grow deeper into Christ, so should our actions reflect this love into others as we live our daily lives.

Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule
"And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God’s people” (Philemon 6-7, NLT).