Sometimes I like to look at things from a different angle.  The familiar stories of the Gospel slide past me without having any impact on me; and from time to time I find myself sitting up and realising that I have not absorbed one word of what I have heard or read as I have spent time in Scripture.  This poem came to me on one of those occasions.  The first line rang in my mind, and, when I wrote it down, the rest followed.  It can be read as a bit of fun – but the words can also disclose deep spiritual truths to those who read it – if you will let them.

THE JARS

Stone we are, hewn from the rock on the hillside,

Ramrod straight and stiff as the Pharisees.

Unbending.

Holding with pride our cargo of water;

Valuable life-giving water – so rare a commodity.

One day we were pushed away from the centre

To stand by the wall, away from the crowd.

So lonely.

For wine was demanded that day by the gallon.

The singing and laughter were growing increasingly loud.

No-one wanted our valuable life-giving water.

No-one noticed us there, ramrod straight in a line.

But one woman.

So in tune to the way the party was going

She called on her Son to act; before He thought it was time.

And the Son smiled across at us, standing, unbending before Him,

And requested the servants to fill us with water so cold.

Pure and clean.

And as each of us filled with that life-giving water,

It changed into wine that was ruby and claret and gold!

Such a wine! Such a wild feeling of glory!

Such a glorious cleansing inside, a sensation so bright.

Anointing.

A Spirit-filled life-giving pureness, eternally given,

So we felt that our cargo was glowing with heavenly light.

Later, we learned that this Son was the Messiah

The Saviour Who’d come to save all of mankind

By His death.

And we never forgot that He’d given us honour

By changing our everyday water to life-giving wine.