I am very fond of this mug. Someone very special gave this mug to me. I love the colors. And I love the PNW Native American design on the inside.
I have always been very careful not to have black tea in this mug, as I’ve been worried the black tea might stain the beautiful design. So, I’ve made a specific point to only ever have herbal tea in this mug.
Several months ago, I noticed a small puddle around the base of my tea mug when I made my cup of tea. I assumed it was just condensation dripping from the small saucer I had covered the mug with during steeping.
But as the days went by, the puddle continued around the base of my tea mug … and slowly began to get worse. Much to my sadness, I discovered that where the mug is joined to its base, a crack has developed.
Whenever I pour the hot water into the mug, I can literally watch as small droplets slowly begin to form on the outside in a ring around the base.
The little droplets reminded me of tears.
Each person is like this mug. Every person is a beautiful delicate masterpiece formed by the master potter – God. We are each different. We each have different designs and colors on the outside. And we each have different designs and unique patterns on the inside.
And just like my special mug has suffered a crack at its base … so too, each of us have had things happen in life which have caused cracks at our very core, at the base of who we are.
As we go through life, all we see is how beautiful all the different mugs are. Everyone whom we meet and interact with seems like everything is going fine. Their life seems to be going great.
But just like the crack on my special mug is invisible, so too the cracks in people’s lives are invisible. And in the quiet moments of life, hot tears slowly form and drip from the base of each mug. Hot tears of heartache. Hot tears of loneliness. Hot tears of discouragement and loss.
“Even in laughter, the heart may ache.” – Proverbs 14:13
“Each heart knows its own bitterness.” – Proverbs 14:10
Jesus is near to the brokenhearted!
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18
We all have cracks around our base.
Every . single . one . of . us.
Let us be kind to everyone we meet. Because, as the quote says, “everyone we meet is fighting a battle we know nothing about.”
