When I think of potting plants, I immediately think of using terra cotta pots. With all the plastic containers, glazed pottery, and baskets available for plants, I’m still drawn to the brownish-orange, yellow clay pots—even if they are cracked pots.
They just say “gardening” when I see one. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love the colorful glazed pots, either with patterns or a lovely solid color. But hands down, terra cotta pots are my favorite. (Just call me old-fashioned.)
I especially love aged clay pots — the ones in which moss has begun to grow over the surface. Such brings character the container, as well as color and a soft texture.
New or old, these are my favorites. The only problem is that they tend to break easily—Cracked Pots. Many a spring I have sorted through containers to find broken clay pots nestled among the new and not-so-new. I also find them around the house, cracked, with the soil, and sometimes even the plant is captured inside.
This happened once with a creeping jenny plant on my front porch. Sitting in the morning sun, watching the day begin, I looked over and saw the rim had cracked. I took the plant and the cracked pot to my potting bench to repot it, but I couldn’t. It looked. . . well . . . happy, even though its home was marred and falling apart.
Examining the pot more closely, I saw that the outer clay shell was peeling off, but not the layer holding the plant inside. I knew I couldn’t repot the plant, for it was doing too well, so I left it. Just as the moss on other clay pots gives it character, this pot showed resilience. It had a job to do, and it was trying to do it well.
I left my beautiful chartreuse creeping jenny in that cracked pot all summer, watching over it when I watered and checking on it after a hard summer shower. It was still useful to me, and it still had a job to do.
But what about all the other broken pieces of these earthen vessels? I have found many uses around my yard and garden:
- I place the container on the ground – broken side down – and place a plant in the ground, giving the illusion of a plant growing out of the container.
- I use small pieces at the bottom of a larger container to provide drainage.
- I will take larger pieces and place them strategically in the flower bed to add interest.
It’s so difficult for a gardener to throw anything away!
I would like to think I’ve aged with grace, with a soft layer of beautiful moss that adds character, or with cracks that show resilience. But I feel more like I’m just a broken and worn-out pot.
In the pile of old and new, useful and aged pots, I show up as broken pieces of an earthen vessel. But I have found that I’m under the care of a loving Gardener, and He finds it difficult to throw anything away!
Under His care, He takes my brokenness and makes it useful for His Kingdom and His Glory. I may not be the most magnificent pot in the pile, but God still loves me and has a purpose for me. AND . . . He has one for you, too. He wants to take the broken pieces and heal them, as well as our wounds.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
(Psa. 147:3 NKJV).
Do you feel like the Lord watches over you, and you are under His care, like we watch over our own plants?
What are some of your favorite containers for potting your favorite plants?
And, speaking of favorite plants, what are some that you love to grow in containers?
Remember, if His eye is on the sparrow that’s chirping in your yard, He certainly has His eye on you and me. He loves us and wants to heal our brokenness and bind up our wounds. Yes, He has a purpose for us, cracks, and all.
Blessings,
Beth
