Beauty

This story has been stuck in my head. I've tried to find the exact story, but can't. If anyone has it, please let me know. I am going to try and remember as best I can. I only put it in quotes to show the story part.

'There was a woman that carried two water pots to the river each day. One pot did exactly what it was suppose to. It was perfect. The other pot, had a crack in it, and had lost most of it's water by the time the woman got back to her village. This happened everyday. The woman carried both pots down to the river, and came back with a pot full of water, and a pot that was almost empty because it had all leaked out.

Another woman watched this day after day, and could not figure out why she would take the cracked pot to the river everyday, only to come back almost empty. Did she not know the pot was cracked?

One day she had to find out why she did this. She asked the lady, "Do you know that one of your pots is cracked?" The other lady smiled and said, "Yes, I know it's cracked." "Then why do you waste all that energy carrying it down to the river everyday, when you know it is going to be gone when you get back?"

The lady took her to the path and said, "Look down the path, and what do you see?" The woman looked and saw that one side of the path was covered in flowers when the other side was bare. The lady that carries the pots said, "The one pot carries my water each day, and the other one leaks water along the path. They both serve a beautiful purpose. There are no flowers growing along the side of the path that I carry the perfect pot. Along the other side, the flowers grow beautifully. For each day they are watered by the pot with the small crack. It makes me smile each day to walk the path, and see the beautiful flowers."'

This story has really touched my heart. Do we feel so bad about ourselves, when we don't serve the purpose we think we should, that we forget to look at what beauty our small cracks may bring to the world? There is a beauty that each of us brings to this world that no one else can. Can we find that beauty in ourselves and in others? How boring would this world be if there were only one kind of beauty?

It's usually easy to see this beauty in friends and family. Can we see it as easily in those we don't get along with? They also have a beauty they bring to this world that no one else can. If we try to find that beauty in them, our hearts might soften toward them, and how beautiful is that!?!