Cracked Pot

October 13, 2021 by Virginia Ruth

The other day I picked up a five gallon plastic container on our dog walk. It was in the back alley next to someone’s trash can. (The unwritten rule around here: If an item is in the back alley by the trash cans, it is free for the taking.)

“I wonder why they are throwing it out?” I said to my husband. He just shrugged his head. After thirty plus years of marriage he has come to accept that his wife is a “dumpster diver”. I can usually make one man’s trash into our treasure. I had designs on that container. I needed something large and non-breakable to use as a vase for our sidewalk give-away of cut hydrangeas.

I swished some water out of the bottom and then proceeded to fill it up. I had left the hose draped on the side to fill and turned away to do another task. When I turned back, I noticed water pooling along the driveway. I couldn’t understand from where it was coming so I started tracing the rivulets of water and low and behold it brought me back to the side of the free container. There was an ever so slight crack halfway up the side of the plastic so that only a quarter of the bottom could be safely filled.

Oh well. You get what you pay for. However, I was still able to use the container. I use it to carry my bag of potted soil.

My cracked water container came to mind when I heard the following story:

“Back in the days when pots and pans could talk, which indeed they still do, there lived a man. And in order to have water, every day he had to walk down the hill and fill two pots and walk them home. One day, it was discovered one of the pots had a crack, and as time went on, the crack widened. Finally, the pot turned to the man and said, ‘You know, every day you take me to the river, and by the time you get home, half of the water’s leaked out. Please replace me with a better pot.’ And the man said, ‘You don’t understand. As you spill, you water the wildflowers by the side of the path.’ And sure enough, on the side of the path where the cracked pot was carried, beautiful flowers grew, while other side was barren. ‘I think I’ll keep you,’ said the man.” ~Kevin Kling as told to OnBeing.org.

I heard Mr. Kling speak on the program On Being. He was sharing different stories from one of his books. A storyteller, playwright and poet, Mr. Kling was born with a congenital birth defect in his one arm and lost the use of his other one in a motorcycle accident. His storytelling is positive and up lifting.

I really liked the image of the cracked pot because I feel like a cracked pot most of the time: incomplete, ineffective and not useful. But I also believe that I and others don’t have to feel that limitations keep us from being useful. Even with our faults, there is a purpose and plan for everyone. God uses each one of us, even those a little cracked, for His work. Sometimes our limitations can encourage others- “if they could do it, so can I”. Sometimes our experiences can pave the way for others- “this is what I learned and it might be helpful for you to know this before you begin…”. Sometimes our situations and outcomes can only be explained through God’s grace- “I could never have done this without God’s strength.”

If I am planning on making some type of craft, I generally will purchase the materials. The materials are new and consequently, the project will look new and put together and generally I am pleased with the results. However, when I re-purpose one item for another, I am thrilled! I love nothing more than to take something that is broken and reuse it for something else. I remember all the details of the endeavor and will be pleased every time I see or use the item. Sometimes I wonder if that is how God is with us: He loves to use our brokenness for something unimaginable and unforeseen yet totally beautiful and useful. He loves to restore and renew and to make whole. In fact, I think He purposely uses those who are cracked for His work: making purpose and beauty out of that which is not. What better hands to be in, then to let the Master Creator, design and re-fashion us and our situations?

What about you? What kind of pottery are you? Fine china? Stoneware? Cracked glaze? Chipped around the edges? Used? Put on a shelf? Where have you seen God working in your life? Re-shaping, re-purposing, re-using a difficult experience. Has your brokenness been used to glorify God?

Actually I like that I am not complete and whole- yet. By God’s grace, each day I can discover what improvement He has in mind for re-using and re-purposing me. As the old gentleman said as he walked off the tennis court, “I left room for improvement.”

May all of us cracked pots feel the same way.

Composting

February 12, 2020 by Virginia Ruth

The other week my husband resurrected the compost heap. We had had a compost pile many years ago. In fact a friend gave us her black plastic compost bin. For a time we dutifully added grass clippings and leaves. Though it was never a well tended compost heap. Whenever I thought about it, I would stab a pitch fork into the middle and wiggle the pitch fork around but never really worked on it enough to make the yard debris into gardening black gold.

So, I was curious as to what prompted my husband to do so.

“Greta said I should do it.”

At first I thought, “Who the heck is Greta?” And then I remembered that he had read an article about Greta Thunberg.

Which is why we now have a stainless steel container on our kitchen counter containing coffee grounds, vegetable peels, old cut flowers. Each day, he will dump the contents into the black bin and stir.

I have been thinking about composting. One. I love the idea of recycling and “using it up”. What better way to use up our food waste than by turning it into something useful. According to the EPA, food scraps and yard waste together comprise of 28% of what we throw away. What a waste (pun intended). Especially when that waste can be used for something good.

Environmentally it makes sense to compost. There is a removal of items in the landfills. Not only is space freed up, but I also think of the gas needed for transporting that waste to a dump or landfill whether by a paid trash collector or yourself.

Composting has made me aware of other waste products our house hold produces. Compared to my unscientific study of our neighborhood (looking at the trash bins lining the sidewalk on trash day), we do not throw out that much. Not even half a can for the two of us each week . But I am no way near the people who are trying to produce zero trash. You may have heard of the minimalist folks who, if not completely without trash- meaning not recyclable in any way, can contain their year’s worth in a mason jar.

Our reduction in waste results from trying to avoid purchasing anything with too much packaging in the first place. Nothing new to our lifestyle. We were practicing that when our children were small. We started out that way because it was more budget friendly to do so. At that time, I never gave it much thought to our purchasing preferences until one day in the grocery store our one son was heard saying in a loud voice that only five-year-olds can produce, “Look at all the packaging that lady has in her cart” as he pointed to the evidence. I did a quick 180 with the cart and darted down the next aisle.

Composting is also a tangible and wonderful life metaphor about how God is at work in our lives. What I especially love about this metaphor is how, that which is inedible can be turned into something which supports growth of edible products. Even at the end stages of an organic item, it can be broken down and reused as soil to enrich the next crop of items. With just warmth, moisture, oxygen and nutrients you can have an ideal environment for microorganisms which will break down any organic debris.

How many times do we think we have broken and unusable waste in our lives? Faults, situations, problems or relationships that seem to have no purpose other than toss into a trash heap. We wonder how can anything good come out of this mess? Yet with God, it always does. He is the ultimate recycler, re-user, restorer. He is in the business to change things from worthless to worthy.

I have seen time and time again, either in my own life or in the lives of those around me, that there is potential for growth and goodness even with the most challenging and seemingly hopeless situation. There might not be direct goodness (or seemingly so) to the individual but there is always a definite goodness in the longview of relationship building and/or societal growth. For God is sovereign and His purposes are not ours.

When you think about it, even if there is no good for you, your situation might be a reminder, warning or good for someone else? “You meant evil against me but God meant it for good.” Joseph reminds his brothers (and us) in the review of Joseph’s long, troubling and ultimately triumphant life.

What about you? What trash do you have in your life? Are you holding onto it? Or getting rid of it? Can you trust God to take that which is ugly and allow Him to turn it into something useful and good? Can your trash be a treasure for something else?

I can think of nothing better than to learn that a difficulty of mine has been turned into something good for someone else or that it has built a relationship. The by-product that gives meaning to the hardship. I think of my recent wrist injury. While it has been a difficult three months (and I still have some surgeries and healing ahead of me) I do see this trash of an experience turning into the groundwork for a lovely friendship. An acquaintance of mine helped me navigate the orthopedic process for my broken wrist. It was unexpected and a God-send and I have been able to help her with some of her personal issues. More than a tit-for-tat but rather the groundwork of friendship and caring. She would have remained an acquaintance had I not had my injury. For that I am grateful. Who knows what this good thing will turn into?

What does your composting pile look like? What trash in your life is turning into an earthly or heavenly treasure?

Here are some resources on composting:

House of Memories

September 28, 2016 by Virginia Ruth

A while back there was a report on the radio about an unique museum in Denmark that doesn't really explain history as much as encourages the visitor to experience history.

This museum is not open to the general public but to groups of elderly suffering with dementia and Alzheimers. The museum is an exact reproduction of an apartment in the 1950's, during the time when those who visit would've been in their teens and twenties.

It has been discovered that associative memories- smells, sights, sounds, touch that we associate with certain experiences- help retrieve the "reminiscence bump."- that teens and twenties time of early memories. For those who are suffering from Alzheimers/dementia they need to by-pass strategic retrieval of the memories. Instead they need to jump the executive process and go directly to that "bump". Sensual associations are the key to unlocking those memories.

One of the reasons this retrieval is important, is that it allows those who are suffering from memory loss, feel as if they are still useful. They can explain for what some of the past items were used and what they did.

"When people are old and with dementia, we are taking too much care of them," says Henning Lindberg, who came up with the idea for the House of Memories. "[We say] 'Sit down. Do you want coffee? Can I get a blanket?' No! If you want coffee, make it yourself! Of course, it will take double the time to make those things, but it doesn't matter because they will be useful again. It's what they tell us again and again and again — 'I'm so happy I could be used.' "

Who doesn't want to feel useful? I know most people will express that if they cannot do "such and such" they might as well be gone. The "such and such" is usually an activity that makes the feel alive, human and useful.

What is it about humans and our feeling of usefulness? Is that what separates from all other living beings? How about you? Do you have loved ones that need to feel useful? How would you go about including them into your day to day? What things can they contribute to your household? What are you learning from them?

Are you building a house of memories?