Rose was a wise 78 year old woman…
Every morning she had to walk a mile or so to the river in order to fetch water for drinking, cooking and cleaning that day. She carried two buckets with her, filled them up at the riverbank, and walked with them to her cottage.
One of the buckets was newer, perfectly sealed and held water without any problems. The second bucket, on the other hand, was older and contained a few thin cracks.
As she walked – water would leak out of the cracks and onto the ground. By the time she arrived home she’d usually lost one third of the water from the cracked bucket.
One day she was walking back to the cottage and carrying her buckets as per usual.
A man stopped her and pointed out that there were cracks in her bucket and water was leaking out.
“You should get a new one!” he said.
“Why?” asked the wise old woman.
“Because anything with cracks is broken and must be fixed!”.
The old woman smiled and thanked the man for his advice.
But then said something that changed the man’s view… She pointed towards all the beautiful flowers and greenery that had grown along the path she was walking.
“I’ve lived here for thirty years. And it was only when the cracks appeared in this bucket and water leaked as I walked that these flowers grew and turned the barren path it once was into what it is today”.
The man stopped…
Paused…
Took a deep breath…
And, with tears in his eyes, looked at all the stunning flowers that had sprung up and beamed a big smile.
“You mean those flowers wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the cracks?”
“No” said the old woman.
He had heard something deeply that touched his soul. Rose smiled at him and asked him what insight he’d just had. With a beaming smile of his own and tears rolling down his cheeks he said…
“It hit me that I’ve gone my whole life thinking that I had to be perfect or I was broken…but right now I see that imperfections create beauty too”.
Have you ever thought about how many thousands of cells make up your spaceship? How your heart beats without the mind’s instruction?
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through the nose. Hold it. Now exhale big through the mouth. Take a moment, open your eyes, and identify 5 things in the room you can see, 5 things you can hear, 5 things you can touch.
Welcome back.
There is beauty in everyone, and everything. But sometimes we fail to see it when we’re wearing someone else’s definition of ‘beauty’ or worth. You are wonderful! You are worthy, and enough.
