Earthen Vessels

CELERY & TERESITA TANSECO-CRUZ

Have you ever compared yourself to broken pottery? In Japan, there is a very artful way of mending broken pottery called Kintsugi. The cracks still show, but the finished, restored product is more beautiful than before! That’s because it is whole again while revealing the “imperfect life” that the pottery has been through. Its history, one might call it. Still, beautiful pottery and all things on this earth will come to an inevitable end, eventually. Nothing is permanent. “Good-bye, So long, Farewell “ accompanies us always and everywhere.

We believe our lives are similar to mended pottery – complete with imperfections and cracks, but beautiful. And definitely transitory. But there is a difference. And that difference lies in what (or whom) we carry inside us. We are the “clay “ molded with God’s hands. So we are His “pottery”  –  the vessels where he has set up a permanent address. His lives inside us, giving us life and beauty that has no end. It’s forever. Perhaps the better word is eternal.

In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 4: 7-18 of the Bible, we find this affirmation:

“ But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us, afflicted in every way but not constrained…carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus…Although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day…as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen, for what is seen as transitory, but what is unseen as eternal.”

The Treasure Within 

The movements and transitions in our lives are part of our temporary nature as earthen vessels. We read and hear hundreds of news every day, reflecting this. A few months ago, five persons, we knew died within a week. We receive prayer requests constantly for people who need physical or emotional healing.

And just this week, GINA LOPEZ, a wealthy woman who chose to dedicate her life to serve the poor and the preservation of the environment, succumbed to brain cancer. Her profound reply in an interview a month before her passing embodies the message from verses 16-18.

“God exists. He does, whether you believe it or not, He does exist. If you can go into the quiet of your heart, you will feel that love is with you every microsecond of your existence. That love is there for you, and it is there unconditionally. So may it continue to hold us and nurture us and propel us in creating a piece of heaven in this country.”

Like pottery (or Humpty Dumpty), we live through breakage. The trio of pain, suffering, and disappointment always makes sure of that.  We get sick, exhausted, exasperated, make wrong choices. Although we are, with all the help we get, put together again, there is always a shift or a stumble waiting on the horizon. But we do not fear them.

Because of the “treasure” in our earthen vessels, we have learned to overcome difficulties, finding peace and contentment despite setbacks. We can rise and adapt to an entirely new perspective because we believe in the God who dwells in us and gives us direction. You may have experienced this too, and so have others. We are continuously amazed by stories of people living in fear, defeat, and hatred that eventually transform into courage, love, and victory! What countless lives have “miraculously “ turned around despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles!

Life to the Fullest

We rejoice, praise, and thank God for this gift of faith. For God alone is unchanging and permanent. He is the CONSTANT within us, in our hearts and souls. He is the source of our wisdom and grace that enables us to follow his ways and practice his kind of love. And even if we break into pieces like the pottery, he does not mend us. He makes us whole and new again. He gives us his life to the fullest.