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 it could only do half of what it was 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 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 was 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 customized flaws and imperfections, if we didn’t we would be like God. God sees our flaws as something beautiful to Him. He can work through our flaws and use them for His glory. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7 – 10:
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first, I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then He told me,
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of God’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let God take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
The next time you’re complaining about your imperfections or flaws – don’t. Through our imperfections, God shows us how great and how strong He is. Consider your flaws and imperfections a blessing.
Those who have not yet accepted their own imperfections are the first ones to judge and criticize the faults of others.”
~ Author Unknown
