Day 1 The Cracked Clay Pot

DAY 1 — THE CRACKED CLAY POT

“God Uses What We Hide”
Every morning, a gardener carried two clay pots down a long path to water his plants.
One pot was perfect — polished, smooth, flawless.
The other had a long crack running down its side.
Each day, water dripped through that crack until the pot was nearly half-empty by the time they reached the garden.

One morning, the cracked pot finally spoke:
“I’m ashamed. I’m broken. I waste your water.
Why don’t you throw me away and use a better pot?”

The gardener paused, smiled gently, and said,
“My friend… look at your side of the path.”

The cracked pot looked — and for the first time saw it:
Bright flowers blooming in rows of yellow, pink, and violet.

“I planted seeds on your side,” the gardener said.
“I knew about your crack.
So every day, without realizing it,
you watered beauty along the way.”

The pot wept.
Its weakness had been its ministry.

We spend so much energy hiding our cracks —
our sins, weaknesses, failures, wounds, limitations.
We try to look like the “perfect pot” everyone admires.

But Lent invites us to a different kind of honesty:
God doesn’t use us despite our cracks.
He often uses us through them.

Your weakness may be watering someone else’s healing.
Your struggle may be teaching someone perseverance.
Your past may be someone else’s map out of darkness.

God is a gardener who plants seeds
exactly along the path of your brokenness.
And what you call “failure,”
He calls “fertile ground.”

Lent is not about becoming flawless —
it’s about letting God make your cracks fruitful.

Ask yourself today:
“What crack in my life have I been ashamed of…
that God may be trying to use for good?”

Whisper this prayer:
“Lord, I place my broken places in Your hands.
Use them to water what I cannot see.”