Quote:  What is a friend?  A single soul dwelling in two bodies. 
–Aristotle

The pot sits on the window ledge above my desk where I work every day.  It links me to a treasured friend.  Forty years my senior, I consider Marion my sister.

We’ve shared our faith, writing, and books.  Most importantly, we’ve shared the past three years of pain following the deaths of her husband and my mother.  In the same month, Marion and I were united in the loneliness and grief that fills your soul where a loved one once lived.  We’ve cried, gossiped, traveled, and laughed.  So I wasn’t surprised when I found her gift on my doorstep.

I opened the tiny box to find a delicate ceramic bowl made of overlapping leaves reaching up from around the bottom in golds and greens, finishing at the top in a fluted edge of leaf points.

To my surprise, there was a web of yellowed cracks where someone had glued the broken pot back together.  Puzzled, I wondered at Marion’s gift.  I knew it had to be especially chosen for me.  I chuckled.  I wondered if I should ask her about the cracks.  Had she even noticed them?  Her handwritten card explained.

“How wonderful to find friends in life!  And this little ‘whatchamacallit’ is to remind you of the fact that God takes our beautiful lives and mends them, when we let Him.  And the mending goes on and on.  And to remind you of me—one fragmented life that God, in His mercy, has put back together.”

Amen, my friend.

Bible Verse:   The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.  The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.  Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.                                 Psalm 116:5-7

_______________________________

Treasures of a Woman’s Heart: A Daybook of Stories and Inspiration, Lynn D. Morrissey, ed., Starburst Publishers, 2000, contributor, “Broken Pot.”