Potted

There is a certain beauty to this flower, this bromeliad. I've been looking at it in the store forever, and it is a gorgeous plant. You know what? When I got it home and repotted it in that big brown pot, it looked better than ever!


So...large. And so....full.


The truth is, it would be sin to be sad about the pot now. Maybe even heartbreaking. This flower, it was made for this pot; and this pot? It was made for this flower. The two look so absolutely gorgeous together. Even if I missed my empty vessel that bad, there would be something hollow if I repotted the plant yet again. Something dimming in the plant, which wouldn't look as good in any other pot. And something hollow in the pot because now, I would remember this image: when it held this beautiful foliage and looked so vibrant.


It makes a different statement now as a full pot rather than an empty one.


As much as I love the idea of being an empty vessel, poured out before God and waiting for Him to fill me to overflowing, I also love the idea of a flower. I love the idea of the Potter potting in me something so perfect, so beautiful. Something that, when you see it, you say, "That was made for that very spot." When you look at the two of us together, my pot and His flower, you know that neither of us would be better without the other. We are perfect together. I was made for His gift, and His gift - so graciously given - was made just for me.


I love the idea of standing there, potted, enticingly and demonstrably full but with the capacity and promise for growth and the ability to soak in the water. Living water, if you will.


There's something about the empty vessel. But there's something about the full one, too. And if I took out of me what God has put in, if I poured myself out, obstinately demanding to be an empty vessel, you would see the same as you would with the pot: in the absence of the pot, the flower doesn't look as radiant. And in the absence of the flower, the pot has something hauntingly hollow about it.


I am so blessed that the Potter who formed me is also the Potter who fills me, that through Him, I am able to stand full and firm, primed for growth though elegantly beautiful. That through Him, I am matched with my perfect gift, His created blessing just for me, where we are perfect together.


And you know what? All is not lost in the empty vessel world, either. For when He saw fit to pot in me this gift, He leaves behind another empty pot, somewhat smaller, but perfect for a seedling. Something new to grow. Something new to hold. Some kind of promise to develop...a new empty vessel, poured out and ready to be filled.