I picked up my daughter from school the other day and she was beaming to give her mom the Mother’s Day present she made in class. A painted clay pot with a flower on it.
When we made it home, I came inside to find my daughter sitting by the table crying uncontrollably. She had set her backpack down too hard and broke the pot into pieces. I watched as she tearfully tried to piece her flower pot together over and over, but as soon as she let go of one side to get another piece, they all fell to the table again.
I sat beside her with my arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her. I tried to tell her it was okay, and we could just buy a new one. She responded with, “it’s just not the same.”
With lots of help, and super glue, she put the clay pot together to give to her mom.
Thinking about it, I realized our relationships with people are a lot like clay pots. Some are plain and small and others become beautiful with work and time. Some hold amazing life within them and others sit as nothing but an empty shell.
Over time, some of our “pots” get left outside in the sun too long and forgotten about, others get cared for and the life inside them flourish. Sometimes we get careless or negligent and scratch, drop, or somehow break our pots and it takes a lot of work to glue them back together.
In the end, my daughter was right… Buying and painting a new pot wasn’t the same. There would be nothing wrong with the new one, but the old one would still be in pieces on the table. The original pot, in it’s cracked and glued state is irreplaceable as the gift to her mom.
I’m incredibly grateful for the “flower pots” in my life, especially the amazing women in it… Including:
My mother, who has put up with me from birth who taught me much of what I know about relationships.
My aunt, who always treated me as a son and is one of the most selfless people I know.
My two sisters Jennifer and Lisa , who kept me in line growing up.
And my soulmate. You put so much life into our scratched and dented, glued together flower pot that it could never be replaced. I’m glad you hold the pieces together so God can superglue them together. Without you, I’d be dried clay in the back yard wasting away.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
(This Broken Clay Pot blog was one of my first ever blogs written…one year ago today. Re-posted because I don’t think I can celebrate all the important women in my life with more than how I feel) -David@overwatchdesigns.com