A story today

A man works hard in his village, and has to go to the well to get his water.  He carries them in two jars balanced with a beam across his shoulders, as he has done many years of his life.  One jar is full and complete, but one is cracked.  The cracked jar felt ashamed for his performance, and decided to speak to the man about it.  "After all these years," he said to the man, "why have you continued to use me?  I cannot supply all that you need at home."  The man look at the jar and replied, "When I go tomorrow to get water, look back at the path we walk along."

The next day, the man again drew his water from the well.  On the journey back, he again spoke to the jar:  "Look down on your side of the path.  What do you see?"  The jar looked down to see vegetables growing along his side of the path, and none on the other side.  Then the man said, "See what has happened.  I knew you could not carry all that was needed at home, but I scattered seeds along your side of the path.  These vegetables help provide for my family.  How could they have grown without your crack?"

This story was given to us at the beginning of out Spiritual Disciplines class today, and it resonated with me in a way that was somewhat unexpected.  It's an interesting idea to think of all the things we have done in our lives, all the people we have touched, without knowing what we have done.

I didn't think much of the words that my manager spoke to me as I left Walmart.  She said to me that I had touched the lives of the people at that store, and to no forget that.  Here is another reminder for me.  I liked to think of myself as a manager that I hadn't experienced much before.  I wanted to be open for my associates to come to me with their own concerns, and they did.  Major events happened in my time as assistant manager, eventually I think for the better of the store, that I wonder if they would have happened if I had not been there in that capacity.

I still miss the fun I had with my associates.  While I knew it was time for me to move on from Walmart, it was the joy I found in the people I worked with that made it such a hard decision for me to take.  And yet, I have moved on to something else now for the better of me, which is something I was not doing while at Walmart.

Sometimes it's OK to let go of things you hold close when you know in the end it will be better.