News  »  Monkhill Chapel newsletter 22nd May 2021

There was a Chinese woman who had two large buckets. Each bucket hung on the ends of a long pole, which she carried across her neck. One of those buckets had holes in it and the other bucket was perfect. The perfect bucket always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house. But the bucket with holes arrived only half full. For a full two years the Chinese woman went daily to the stream with the two buckets and she would carry home one and one half buckets of water. Of course, the perfect bucket was proud of its accomplishments. The imperfect bucket however, was ashamed of its imperfections, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been created to do. After two years the imperfect bucket spoke to the woman one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because these holes in my side cause water to leak out all the way back to your house and you work so hard.” The woman smiled and said, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other bucket’s side? I have always known about your flaws, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water the flowers. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace my house and give me so much joy.”

The story basically reminds us that each one of us has our own flaws. At certain times in our lives we feel that those flaws are magnified. We are unable to meet the demands of others or ourselves and we begin to feel helpless and often hopeless. But there is more to this story; If we can just accept ourselves for who we are, flaws and all, we can blossom into something new and different. For, you see, we are not flawed, we all have something to offer perhaps not obvious at first but true if we persevere. If we do not accept what seem like flaws – our weaknesses and our feelings – we will not feel or change or grow. Through these “flaws,” great things can come.

We continue to pray for those parts of the world still in the fierce grip of the pandemic and pray that their vaccination programmes are speeded up to help eradicate this awful virus. Likewise we pray that vaccination rates here are successful in stifling the spread of the other variants of Covid we are facing.

That's it for this week folks.

In the meantime take care and hope to see you on Thursday,

Lynne