The Stories Continued

As promised, I am gonna continue the next 2 stories in this blog. Truly hope that they will somehow inspire you. Let's not drag anymore and there you go...

There was a water bearer he had two large pots, one hung on each end 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 master's house. The cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path. "Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

To me the water bearer acted so much like God. Living a righteous life and loving and accepting things as who they are. In fact God created each and everyone of us so uniquely. We have our very own gifts. It is not comparable between each other. But one thing for sure is that we all have flaws. But God loves us regardless of our flaws. He makes good use of our strengths as well as our weaknesses in different areas of our life. Therefore, we should not be ashamed of our flaws and feel discouraged or even feel envious over others' strengths. As long as we are able to acknowledge our weaknesses and make good use of them even the tiniest flaw can be turned to a strong point; and able to shine for Him. Bear in mind that He made us this way for a purpose. And sometimes of course if He finds that the particular flaw is against His will, He would need us to make a change. And that's how He builds us since the day we were borned. So let's start to love ourselves and others for who we are and look for the good in them. Amen.

The last story is just a simple one. Once a King told his General, "Ride this horse and go to any land that you want and capable of; and when you return I shall give you all the lands that you have covered." The General was delighted; he rode a horse to all the lands that he wanted to possess and he just kept going and going, wanting more and more. He did not rest at all because he wanted to cover as much land as he could. Before dawn the horse started to feel so tired that it could not run anymore but the General insisted to continue. Alas the horse collapse and died of exhaustion. The General was then all alone walking across the land. He sustained for a while and eventually died of exhaustion as well. When the people found his body they buried him in an isolated graveyard with a usual small tomb similar to other deceased's. This story tells us very much about the world we are living in. Most of the time we are so focused to achieve success and making a fortune we tend to neglect the people we love. In fact we forget to love the people and things around us and sometimes we also forget to love and pamper ourselves. Just like how the General only wanted to obtain the lands that he was desperate for, he forgot to love his horse and caused it to die. He also forgot to love himself and he didn't know that after all the hard work he ended up having no time to enjoy what he had gained. And when he died, people did not really remember or respect him.

The Word of God said that we could not bring with us money and possessions in this life when we die. This also reminds me of a message shared by an awesome sister Teresa saying "Prestige and possessions do not even last a lifetime what more for eternity?" Above all, when you add together the 3 stories I have shared, it comes to a similar point that is God loves us unconditionally; He sent His son to sacrifice for us, He makes good use of our strengths and flaws and in His eyes we are still His beloved child eventhough we are mere sinners, lastly He loves us and He teaches us to love others as we love ourselves. He gave us a place at eternity because of love and that is the most important thing that we need; not money, power or fame. Through His love, we love and we are loved. Amen.

Special thanks to Rachel for sharing the second story and Nicholas for sharing the third story. :D