The Vase: A Short Story

For years, the old vase had served its purpose for the woman on the corner of Oak and Laurel. Emma bought it so many years ago at a gift shop in Nantucket. The craftsmanship of the vase showed that it had been created with skilled and caring hands. The hand-painted blue and white oriental pattern was impressive and the owner proudly displayed her.

All spring and summer the woman tended her flower garden. Emma was a superb gardener and would always have more flowers to give away than she could bring inside. The beautiful garden provided her with lilies, roses, sweet lavender, daisies, pansies and baby's breath, just to name a few. It seemed there was no flower she could not grow. The best cuttings always went into her Nantucket vase.

Everyone that came into Emma's house would comment not only on her prize-winning flowers, but also on that one vase. It seemed her flowers were grown just to keep it filled. She'd refresh the vase every other day with a fresh bouquet and place it in the front window. One day she had some visitors. Her friend, Polly, brought along her little granddaughter, Grace. The little girl had a head full of blond ringlets and even more energy. As the two women visited over a cup of tea, Grace grew restless and bored. Polly did not bring along any toys and as she and her hostess chatted, little Grace began to entertain herself.

Out of view of the two women, the flowers in the vase caught Grace's eye. She so wanted to smell the pretty flowers, but the vase was too high for her to reach. The clever little girl looked around and found a stack of books on the floor next to the settee. One by one Grace stacked them up by the table holding the vase, until she was sure it was high enough for her to stand upon to smell the flowers. Up she went. Grace steadied herself by holding onto the side of the table holding the vase. But the table was too light to support the little girl, then the books began to give way. All at once Grace, the table and the vase of flowers came crashing to the floor.

Hearing the commotion and the pitiful cry of the little girl, Polly and Emma came running in to find Grace laying on the floor, crying and begging for forgiveness for making the mess. All wet from the water in the vase and flowers on top of her head, poor Grace felt more shame than pain from the fall. As Emma helped little Grace up off the floor, she laughed and told the grandmother there was no harm done. The woman's granddaughter felt embarrassed for causing such a mess, but Emma didn't want them to feel any worse for the catastrophe. After cleaning up the mess, Polly decided it was time to take her granddaughter home to her mother. Emma gave little Grace the bouquet with a pink ribbon wrapped around it, which made her feel better about everything.

After Emma's two visitors left, she brought the vase into the kitchen to dry it off and prepare it for the next day's cuttings. But as she did, she noticed a small chip at the top and a fine crack running down part of the side. "Too bad," she sighed with disappointment. "Well, we've had a long run of it, haven't we?" And she placed the vase in a box with some other used items for the following week's yard sale.

You might think, 'no big deal.' It's just a vase, and the woman had gotten plenty of use out of it. But now it was damaged, flawed. She can just go get another one. Her beautiful flowers deserved to be placed in a better vessel than that. She'll just go back to that store in Nantucket and buy another. But she neglected to think about the years of service the vase provided for her elegant bouquets.

The day of the yard sale, Emma placed a lot of old and used-up items on a table away from the finer sale items. There on that back table stood the trusty old vase. At first glance, nothing seemed to be wrong with it. She placed a sticker on it, "$1.00". She couldn't imagine anyone wanting the damaged vase, but you know, one person's junk is another one's treasure. Surely someone would find some use for it, even if it couldn't hold another beautiful bouquet as it had for so many years.

Along about mid-day, Polly and Grace drove up and noticed the broken vase right away. "Oh, I'm so very sorry Emma! Here, let me pay you the full price for your vase. Grace and I feel so badly that it broke, and now you have to sell it," she said apologetically. Emma would not hear of it. "No way Polly! I had it for a long time and I've already replaced it with another!" Grace had still not gotten over feeling so badly about breaking Emma's vase. "Oh grandma, please, can we have it? You and I could start a garden and fill it with beautiful flowers. And maybe it wouldn't feel so broken and lonely." Polly was determined to buy the vase. "Emma, I insist. Here is $25 for the vase. We'll fix the crack and it will hold our flowers from now on! Grace and I will have loads of fun starting our own flower garden."

So Emma finally gave in to her friend's insistence to purchase the vase at full price, broken and all. The yard sale was a success and she'd made enough money to make up for buying a new vase. Shaking her head, she thought, "I don't understand why Polly just had to have that broken old vase."

Throughout the following summer, Polly and Grace tended their special garden and grew more and more flowers. The vase was repaired with glue and the crack was placed toward the back of the wall. But it could still hold water, and flowers, and it was still just as beautiful and useful as it had ever been. Years went by and Polly had passed away. The vase was handed down to Grace, who kept it for her granddaughter. Grace's family continued to get years of use out of the vase. The gardens flourished and the vase was never empty.

This story reminds us that we all have a purpose. We are like vessels for the work of God. To man, we may seem broken and useless. But God can repair us, and He has need of us to do His good will. How comforting as we read in 2 Timothy, "If any man therefore shall cleanse himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and profitable to the Lord, prepared unto every good work." 2 Timothy 2:21

We are all like a fragile vases, all of us with flaws and cracks and broken edges. But our usefulness to God is far beyond man's worth. Who are we to place a value, low or high on ourselves, or anyone else? The Bible reads, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be from God and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4:7

Before we decide that we, or anyone else has outlived his usefulness, we need to remember that by the grace of God, we were worth dying for. We are worth more than all the gold of King Solomon. The Lord Jesus saw that we were worth every drop of His blood. He left His heavenly place next to His Father, to come to earth and fill us. He came to fill us; every broken and flawed man, woman and child, with His love and forgiveness.

With every wound that Jesus suffered on the cross, his broken body, the Vessel that held the Son of God, bled and died. But on the third day, this broken Vessel rose...mended, perfect and victorious. This is the promise for us all, for all who will listen, and follow, and allow themselves to be vessels for God.

The Bible states in John, "So the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?' Jesus answered and said, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said." John 2:18-22

What a wonderful promise!