Earthen Vessels

This is my latest project, a loaves and fishes cross, and plant sticks. I colored the samples for mass production. 

“We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

One of the short stories in the book “Chicken Soup for a Woman’s Soul” that impressed me was that of Mary Kay Ash. Like many women in the book, she had a hard childhood, a difficult time trying to earn a living, and although she made good sales for the company she worked for, it was the men who would get promoted. When her first husband divorced her, she was left with three children to support. We can say she was “afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed...” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

In 1963, after quitting from a job where women were not given the same opportunities as men, she started her own cosmetics company with $5,000.00 and her family backing her up. Her sons and her mom always said, “You can do it, Mary Kay.” 

They saw the gold in her earthen vessel. Mary Kay’s company was founded not on competition, but on the Golden Rule, on praising people to succeed and on the principle of placing faith first, family second and career third. It was a company – as Mary Kay Ash would say – "with heart." Mary Kay died in 2001, but what she built lives on. At her death, her personal fortune was $98 million. Her company had more than $1.2 billion in sales.

Let’s not forget we all have this treasure in earthen vessels. Sometimes adversity brings it out.  Other times we just need others to encourage us and say, “You can do it!”