Posted in Inspiration

Posted in Inspiration

    I received this in an email and wanted to share it with all of you for you surely have added beauty to my life and helped me to grow and mature in my Christian walk just by being who you were meant to be.

     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 walk 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 2 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.

Posted in Inspiration

          The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store a few possessions.

          But one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger.

          "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

          Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers.

          "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

          It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground that it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.