A Useful Vessel

When we returned home from our winter/spring travels in the end of April, I was delighted to see that my two tulips planted so lovingly with my granddaughter two and a half years ago were between three and four inches high, each sporting a small bud. For those of you who have a green thumb the size of a watermelon, you may wonder why I would even mention two small blooms in a blog. If you have read my writings in the past, you know that growing anything is a task outside of my wheelhouse and beyond my capabilities. Between the often harsh and unexpected weather in Colorado, my inability to keep vegetation of any sort alive, and the bunnies that, despite the dwarf plants I do produce, decide they make tasty meals, trying to raise anything herbaceous is pretty much a fruitless effort. This is why I really was beyond delighted, I was excited to see I had a couple little plant babies to tend to, and I was hoping for full blooms by the time I would head out on my next trip in the end of May.

I have one small watering pitcher in the house, but I remembered having a large watering can somewhere in the garage. If I could fill that and keep it on the porch, I’d be able to quickly water each morning without having to replenish the container each day. I did eventually locate the can, and because I had to pass through the kitchen to get back out to my little floral treasures, I stopped at the kitchen sink to do the filling. I set the watering can on the counter next to the sink, and I used the pull down faucet to fill it. This is a large can, so I was expecting that it might take a little while to get the water near the top. As I was doing this task, I was looking around and thinking about what other things I would need to accomplish since we had been out of our home for a couple months. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized what was occurring on the counter. While the pretty blue watering can had seemed functional, I failed to notice the huge crack in one side about one-third from the bottom. So while water was flowing into the container, it began to pour out, flooding the entire countertop. I fortunately caught the mishap before I had to don wading shoes and a safety vest. Aside from having to sop up all the water, there was actually an upside to this incident: my sink counter hasn’t been so clean!

Several times in the Bible, people who are followers and servants of God are referred to as vessels. According to Romans chapter 9, it is God as the potter who has the right and the control over who we will become and how we can be used in the kingdom. Believers are considered vessels for honorable use and vessels of mercy, which are created for glory, God’s glory. The greatest component of the equation is God: we are nothing without him, and it is only “in him [that] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 ESV). 2 Timothy 2:20-21 states, “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” We are to strive to be honorable vessels for the Lord’s use. We each are made for a unique purpose and our contributions to the kingdom will be diverse, but one of the problems is that we are all leaky vessels to some degree, not perfect or perfectly useful on our own. It is only as we allow God in to cleanse and refine us that we can become useful vessels to accomplish his purposes here on earth for the good and glory of his kingdom.

I have decided to keep my permeable watering can and actually use it to continue to water my tulips. Yes, the water comes out from the crack in the side, but other than the occasional shoe shower I may receive, the can is doing its job and serving a purpose. Keeping and using it reminds me that while I am a leaky vessel too, I can continue to serve God to the best of my ability, empowered by his Holy Spirit and covered by his grace for the good and glory of his kingdom.

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