The Alabaster Jar

 

The alabaster jar. You know the story. The unnamed woman in the gospels brings a costly alabaster jar, containing valuable nard, and breaks it at Jesus’ feet, giving him a gift of incalculable worth. To some it is offensive, a waste of a precious resource; to Jesus it is beautiful.

Perhaps we each carry such an alabaster jar in our hearts, our minds, our spirits. Mine is fashioned from expectations I have on myself to never fail in the care of my dear Mom, and the expectations I can have on others I love, family and friends. These expectations are not from God and they suck the joy from me. While the precious ointment inside the jar is my love for Jesus and these others, the joy of that love is contained and bottled up by expectations, which can be flawed in me, and which can disappoint if they are not met.

Jesus showed me this in a time of art journalling this week, and it has been a profound revelation to me and one I am praying through. (Thank you, Elaine, for facilitating this amazing way of connecting with God!) So again, tonight, Lord Jesus, I ask your help to make this revelation a reality as I break this beautiful, but heavy, alabaster jar at your feet, releasing the beautiful fragrance of freedom in Jesus, releasing the aroma of the joy of knowing that in Jesus I am enough, he is with me, he is with all those I love, and all is well.

Maybe it’s only me that lugs around such an alabaster jar. I am so grateful to the Lord for this revelation, and am beginning to smell the aroma of love.