The two vessels

We are adept at hardening our anger, finding ways to suppress and repress it, rationalize it, even polish it and call it good, expending great energy in avoiding what God has commanded—love your enemy.

Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you… that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

The son sees what the Father does and likewise does them also

. Likewise, we pray to God, worship Him, claim Him, go to His house on Sunday, but omit blessing our enemy. What must we do to become sons and daughters of our Father in heaven? Love your enemy. To bless someone means to become a blessing, to be the person God called us to be, and then, act as God asks—love your enemy. How, then, do we do good to those who hate us? Before such a good can be done, we must enter into life, the life Christ offered in abundance, the life rising above fleeting joys and sorrows mistaken for life. We must enter into the Spirit hovering above the troubled waters. The good we offer may be a good we love for self, but the better good is the one we give without laying claim to it, the one we give away and wish not to come back to us but passed on as blessing upon blessing—the only good. There was a potter who was commissioned by a winemaker to make two vessels. He made one vessel for everyday use, to be used for pouring wine. For this, the potter fashioned the vessel plainly, rustic and coarse in appearance, rather common and earthy. He made the second vessel to be a showpiece. He took great care to decorate this vessel with grape clusters and a vineyard scene. He painted the vessel with bright colors and hues to create beauty. Anyone who saw the vessel felt joy. The winemaker used the decorative vessel occasionally, but he used the rustic one daily. He filled the common vessel to pour wine to those who visited the vineyard, those who made the wine, and any who were thirsty. No one ever remembered the common vessel to be without wine. Soon, he placed the decorative vessel on the shelf to be seen and not used. In time, the glaze began to craze, cracks and chips appeared, and its bright colors faded. All who visited the vineyard remembered the common vessel and the wine that came from it because it was very good. To this day the plain vessel is still used and no one remembers the decorative vessel or even knows where it is. So it is with the sons and daughters of the Father who enter into His life and give it away.

Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you…so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

There is no time left but this moment to do what God asks.