Jars of clay

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” — 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)

This scripture popped into my mind recently as I was thinking about a couple of recent conversations I’ve had with my single girl friends.  I’m gonna let you into the secret world of the young single adult woman’s mind…we may come across like we’ve got it all together on the outside, but I’ve discovered that no matter what the package is on the outside, if we’re single and in our late 20s, 30s, or older, we ALL think:  “What’s wrong with me?  Why am I not married yet?  Why are all my friends married with kids and I’m not?  I thought I would’ve been married long ago.  Am I not pretty enough?  I must not be because no guys are pounding at my door.”  And then it came to me, “I’ve been getting my self worth from whether or not men think I’m pretty.”

Now, I realize this all sounds crazy when I say it out loud, but after talking with several of my girl friends, I’ve come to realize, this type of toxic thinking is rampant and I was greatly disturbed and angered when I realized that every single one of us single women have fallen prey to these outright LIES of the devil!

This brings me to the clay pot scripture.  It says that we are “like FRAGILE clay jars containing this great TREASURE.”  The self esteem and self concept of the single woman is as fragile as the clay pots Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians.  I’m filled with sadness, brokenness and a righteous anger when I look inside myself and around me and see how much brokenness there is because the devil has pulled the wool over our eyes and caused us to believe that we are worth nothing without the attention of a man.  But hope is not gone.  We have hope in Christ and we are not useless or worthless as singles.  Even the cracked pot serves a great purpose.  (see The Cracked Water Jar below)

The Cracked Water Jar

Once upon a time in India, there was a servant who had to fetch
the water for his master from the well every day. To do this he had
two large jars, which he hung one from each end of a pole
which he carried across his neck. They were heavy and it was
a long walk to the well but the servant had a good master
and he didn’t mind the walk or the work at all.

Both of the water jars looked exactly the same but, if you looked
very carefully you could see that there was a tiny crack in one jar.
And so on the way back from the well – drip, drip, drip –
the water would gradually leak out of that jar and splash
on to the side on the path.

The poor cracked jar was very sad that it only succeeded in bringing
half the amount of water home each day that perfect jar did.
After two years the jar plucked up courage
to tell the servant how it felt and to apologize.

“Why should you feel like that?”, said the servant,
” I knew all about that little crack – in fact I made use of it.”
“How could you do that?” asked the jar eagerly.
“Just look around you”, replied the servant
” Do you see the flowers growing by the side of the path?”

And the jar looked and there certainly were beautiful flowers
growing all along the way.
“Do you notice anything strange? Do you see where they are growing?”
“Why, they only grow on one side of the path,”
said the surprised water jar.
“That’s because I knew you leaked and so I sowed some flower seeds
along your side of the path. For two years now I’ve been able to pick
fresh flowers every day to decorate my master’s table.
And I couldn’t have done that if you hadn’t watered them through
that little crack. So, you see, I like you just the way you are.
You are a very special water jar!”

And that is exactly the way it is with God for He loves us
just the way we are – and can even make good use of some of the things that are wrong with us.
Nothing goes to waste with God
and every one of us is special to Him.

Even though that cracked jar thought it was failing in its purpose to carry water, it was actually fulfilling a completely different purpose – to bring beauty to God’s creation by watering the flowers along the side of the road.  We usually don’t see the bigger picture that He sees because we are so caught up in what we see as our inadequacies.  It’s time to stop the insanity!  (to borrow a line from Susan Powter back in the day)

To my single girl friends out there…you are beautiful, loved, and God has a plan for each one of you.  STOP trying to fill your jar with the things of this world and STOP letting the devil win by lying to you about who you are.  You are God’s and to borrow another phrase, “God doesn’t make no junk.”  And yes, I’m saying this to myself as well!

Until next time…