An elderly Chinese man had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his 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 man 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 man 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 man 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.”
– source unknown (to me)
Tag: flawed
Uniquely Flawed, Uniquely Blessed
I see a deficiency story in me about being uniquely flawed. And the interesting thing is that many others have the same story!
It’s true, in a sense. We are all uniquely flawed.
And yet, we are not unique in being flawed. We are all together in it. It’s one facet of a very down-to-earth form of oneness.
I also see that along with the uniquely flawed story (victim) comes the uniquely blessed identity (chosen one). They are two sides of the same coin, and in inquiry, it’s good to look at both.