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 break, 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 differences. Some people call them flaws, but from a spiritual point of view, there are no flaws in God’s creation. Each divine idea serves a special and worthwhile purpose, and it’s the grateful mind’s desire to see that heavenly purpose and acknowledge its benefits.
So, perhaps we all need to ask the question about ourselves, and about our neighbor, “Am I seeing flaws or am I seeing the blessing in the differences we all behold?”
And with a more grateful and appreciative perspective, we may notice a whole row of beautiful flowers alongside our path we never noticed before!
I love this story. Thank you!
This reminds me to discern the good in everyone, and by doing so goodness is rewarded.
Hello Evan,
Your story can put a nice twist on one’s being referred to as “just a crackpot!” I find your blog an ongoing inspiration for maintaining a spiritual outlook towards life’s unplanned happenings. You, too, are watering flowers along the path.
I sometimes wonder why perplexing situations occasionally arise in your life when you seem to have such an in-tune mindset, but they certainly give you good material to write about as you share the practical outworking with others. You are an interesting writer.
While reading your previous blog on “debt” I thought of a verse found at Romans 13:8, which reads “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” I’ve found this to be good advice.
Hi Gary,
Why do I face perplexing situations…??? That’s an interesting observation. And the answer is, which is the same answer for anyone, really, because I keep pressing ahead with Truth.
Jesus never said life would be idyllic on earth as we faithfully pursued Truth. He said we’d have a cross to bear. That’s a fact. The cross doesn’t mean prolonged suffering, and that we have to expect suffering. But it does symbolize mortal mind’s resistance to the truth we’re striving to demonstrate. As we press ahead with Truth, mortal mind wants to stop our progress, and tries to. When we get sucked into mortal mind’s point of view, we might get discouraged and frustrated. But CS teaches us to not go there, to see resistance to progress from the right point of view. Not as obstacles to be dismayed about, but just another opportunity to prove the reality of Truth and the unreality of error.
Until we fully realize perfection, we are going to constantly face “situations” to overcome. But armed with CS, this can be a joyful and always progressive experience.
I have no illusions of ever finding perpetual harmony in a material sense of things. It’s impossible. We must forsake the material to gain the spiritual, and the lessons we need to learn in the process will result in many “situations” we have to face! But do it with Science, and your progress will be certain, and triumph inevitable.
Well… the word “duh” comes to mind.
I never really thought this through before.
A whole new view.
Thanks for the insight!
Hi again Evan,
Thanks for the exhortation to view perplexities – so-called – not as obstacles to be dismayed about, but rather as further opportunities to prove the reality of Truth and the unreality of error. You are right. Practice quickens the understanding.
I guess this is a little like when a teacher explains how a problem is to be worked out to his students, proving the result on the blackboard, and then gives his students a homework assignment to be worked out at home on their own in order to reinforce the lesson.
There probably is a parallel here somewhere with God (Truth) as the teacher, mortal mind being the problem creator, and “Christ in you” being the beholder of Truth. It takes discipline to trust in the Lord with all your might, and not lean upon mortal mind’s understanding, but it is the right way to go. I know!
Sometime in the past I heard a saying (it may actually be the title of an old Christian song) which goes, “If I never had a problem, I’d have never known what God could do.” I like this perspective, as it implies successful resolution.
I think my original thought when I wondered why perplexing situations occasionally arise in your life when you seem to have such an in-tune mindset, was in the area of “For the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:38). I was wondering what Evan might be giving out (perhaps unintentially) that could cause certain measures – perplexities – to be given back to him? It was just a passing thought.
I have for several years now pondered a statement Georgia Newton made, “You know you’re doing good when mortal mind tries to get in the way.” This really never made any sense to me, yet it seems clear now this was in reference to taking up the cross. Thanks.
To Gary,
“The measure you give is the measure you get back,…” well, let’s think about what Jesus gave out and what he got back. He gave out incredible love, but received intense persecution, even crucifixion. So, to understand the deeper meaning of the saying, I think of it in terms of the love of God you live true too is rewarded, but not necessarily here on earth. But in heaven. The reward is spiritual, not material.
Jesus did receive his reward–his triumph over the grave and eternal life. But there was a great amount or persecution he had to overcome in order to make that demonstration.
Evan, Isn’t heaven here on earth? If there is no such thing as death, as Jesus demonstrated, then we as the children, or reflection (expression) of God must use the gift God gave us through Jesus, (the Christ or “way” ie. spiritualizing our thought) to demonstrate everyday the victory over sin, sickness and even death, which is hell. If death does occur, isn’t that proof our understanding isn’t quite there yet and we have to keep going in consciousness to demonstrate the unreality of this material exsistence? My grandmother, who was a very effective Christian Scientist, told me once “You will get it (understanding) here or hereafter” Now I think I know what she means. As Mrs. Eddy says at death we really are passing to a portal of new belief and we have to keep demonstrating God’s attributes as proof both before and after this so-called material change.
To anon above,
Isn’t heaven here on earth, you ask?
Yes, it is discernible here and now through spiritual sense. But not through material sense.
A material sense of things sees earth as temporal, finite, and as a mixture of good and evil.
Spiritual sense beholds divine reality where God is all, and God is good.
So, it’s perspective. Heaven is discernible here and now through your spiritual sense.
In common experience, we all glimpses degrees of heaven in the here and now, and as our understanding of God grows, the heavenly view grows, and will continue to grow until at the “last trump” all error is seen as unreal to our sense of things, and Spirit is obviously all.
To Evan above. Yes, as usual you have explained this in a way that makes sense and cuts through some of the “jargon” that sometimes comes into my writing (and thought also). Thank you for making this point very clear. This is why your blog is good for us in we have some good “volleys” and it keeps us sharp as we delve deeper into the spiritual understanding of Christian Science and why it is so important in today’s world. Way cool!!!!!
Well, you are welcome. And “way cool” back to you!
Hope this doesn’t sound too obtuse, but my “cracked pot” image comes this way — I pray to ask God what to do, where to walk, which way to drive home, etc., etc. and over the years I’ve come to believe that this is my experience with letting the water drip down — or the spiritual ideas be shared. For instance in one city I lived in, I was often directed to drive through a very crime-ridden part of town on my way home from church. I felt completely safe in doing so, knowing that God’s direction brought protection with it. But I
often wondered how I was helping this dear neighborhood and the people in it, as I loved them, handled any negative thoughts that came my way, rejoiced in the goodness I saw there, etc. Of course sometimes we get to know about the flowers on the side of the road — but I’m getting more content now with knowing that if God asks me to do something, it is blessing me and His other children, and the joy comes in knowing I can be of service to him. Not that I don’t like to hear fruitage! I do. But the discipline I guess I’m learning is to listen and obey and to trust. Capeche?
Susan in Utah
Hey that’s a useful story. This parable stuff could catch on !