A Pretty Vessel

Each day, several times a day, I empty the ice out of the water buckets in the barn and refill them. I use the old fashion method of taking the buckets and slamming them against the frozen ground. From these efforts, over the winter, I have built up a sheet of ice for the sheep to slip and slide on in the paddock, unfortunately for them.

Layer upon layer, the ice has built up, like the memories of the years in our lives, some pleasant but some filled with disappointments, unfinished dreams, and always some hurt, cleverly hidden. These memories command our attention. We are those who sigh...shake our heads...think, "I wish!"




My mother gave me this piece of pottery many years ago. I enjoyed using it to carry warm water to the rabbits in the barn as it was such a pretty vessel. However last week, I forgot to return it to the house and it cracked from within. Now it has lost its purpose, left to sit, a reminder.

Isn't life like that sometimes? Over the years, the disappointments, lost dreams, hurts build up until we forget who we once were. When did we change? What was it that we wanted so much to do? Our passions subside; we grow cold. There are very few of us who age gracefully. During the past several months as I have been visiting my neighbour and friend in the chronic care ward at our local hospital, I have met two gentlemen who felt burdened to tell me, a total stranger, how they were saddened that they had not been better people. They had grown cold.

I don't want to grow cold. I want to remain feeling warm and secure. I don't want to do just what needs to be done. I want to be a beautiful precious vessel, doing just the right thing for love. How might this happen? ....by surrendering our disappointments and hurts to our Lord. Having done that, as if by magic, we become beautiful and filled with purpose. These are not just pretty words. Stop.....feel the warmth of His gaze upon you. There will be a new song on your lips...warmed from within.

I brought my pottery inside and sadly discovered that when it was warmed up, it was only the ice that held it together.