‘Leave me
alone’, ‘I can’t, I am not able to perform well,’ ‘I am not efficient enough to
do that,’ ‘I am not perfect,’ ‘so, I give up,’ ‘I quit,’ have you ever said or
heard such phrases in your life, study or in your carrier? Then this may be for you. This happens in most cases because of
comparison. Comparing yourself with
others who have more training, more efficiency and seems to be more
perfect. Sure, it’s not bad to have a
higher aim for achievement but you should also consider how they achieved such
status. They have come across many
processes. If you want to achieve higher try
to start with what you have, start with what you are.
On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, a
violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
in New York City. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces
on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. He walks painfully, yet
majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his
crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and
extends the other foot forward. Then he
bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the
conductor and proceeds to play. By now,
the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way
across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he
undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as
he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke.
You could hear it snap – it went off like gunfire across the room. There
was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to
do. We figured that he would have to get
up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage –
to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he
didn’t. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the
conductor to begin again. The orchestra
began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such
passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible
to play a symphonic work with just three strings. You could see him modulating,
changing, re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he
was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made
before.
Here is a man who has prepared all his life
to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle
of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with
three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was
more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made
before, when he had four strings. So,
perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we
live is to make ‘music’, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is
no longer possible, to make ‘music’ with what we have left.
Effort is of us, Efficiency
belong to God. Performance is of us,
Perfection is of God.
It’s not what
you are that matters, it’s how you live is what matters. You may be with lot of inabilities and
brokenness, just don’t compare yourself with others. When you look yourself with others you may
look useless. But you are created for a
purpose. Only God can fulfill the
purpose of your life.
A water bearer in India had two large pots,
each hung on an end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots
had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a
full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the
masters house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily,
with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his
masters house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments,
perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed
of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half
of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a
bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to
apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are
you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years,
to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak
out all the way back to your masters house. Because of my flaws, you have to do
all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts." the pot
said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old
cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the masters
house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old
cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the
side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it
still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the Pot
apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you
notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the
other pots side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took
advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day
while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have
been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without
you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his
house."
Each of us has
our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord
will use our flaws to grace His Father's table. In Gods great economy, nothing
goes to waste. Don't be afraid of your flaws.
Acknowledge
them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness your
strength is made perfect. (2 Corinthians 12:9) God does not look at our success but only our
effort. So, live your life fully with
what you have. Have love which brings
everything into perfection.
