A Cracked Pot

      What do you do with your old cracked flower pots? Do you throw them away? Sometimes I turn them around so the crack is facing a wall or in a direction that no one will see them, and other times I bust them up and use the pieces in the bottom of another pot for drainage. I am so glad that God has another plan for His cracked pots; He actually uses those cracks to make His pots stronger! What we would consider an eye sore, He uses to create beauty. What we look at as a weakness in the pot, He uses to demonstrate strength…His strength. Sometimes He allows the crack to leak out some of the stuff in the pot so He can fill it up with something better…Himself. Other times He dumps everything out -dirt, plant and all, and begins again- new. But throw the pot away? Never!


      We are God’s cracked pots. Some with more cracks and damage than others…but all cracked in some way. Many times the cracks are on the inside, away from view or they have been filled up with God’s grace over the years to the point that they no longer look like cracks. He will only allow us to be broken into pieces if He has plans to remake us into a more useful vessel. To put us back on the Potter’s wheel and reshape us into something better. Something He can plant His seeds inside and use to grow a thing of beauty. There are no pots He cannot use, no damage too great for Him to mend.

      Have you ever seen a flower pot that is bursting with flowers of all colors, full and beautiful, hanging over the sides? That is His plan for each of His pots, for each life to be overflowing with the goodness of His will – cracks and all. Are you hiding your cracks? Have you turned them toward the wall in an attempt to keep others from seeing them? Dear sister, you could be hiding the very thing that God will use in your life to bring Him glory. It may be the very weakness that He will transform into His strength; the crack that allows Him the most access to your heart and the one He will use to shine His light through.

      If you get to know me well enough, you will discover that I have many cracks. You will also learn that there are some I do not like to reveal immediately - usually the deep ones. Those are the ones I am tempted to turn toward the wall. I have been chipped a few times and those pieces have been lost along the wayside. I have at times been too weak to hold dirt or flowers, and at those times I felt pretty useless. I've been broken by sinful choices, and I've been tossed around by others; once I was thrown away. Then the Potter picked me up and put me back on the wheel and made me into something new, useful, and His. When I look into the mirror of my life, I still see some of the cracks in my reflection but they seldom bother me. Instead of reminding me of how they happened, they remind me of the One who filled them with His grace and mercy. Instead of fearing the future, I am excited about what He will plant in the pot next. Which beautiful flower will it be? Whatever it is He plants, I can be sure that He will use those cracks to make the plants stronger in some way and use them for His glory.

How about you, have you given God your cracked pot?

(2 Corinthians 12:9) But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.