An Empty Kettle

In A Dream

A breath of white smoke
disappears in bare branches
A yellow orchid
blooms in winter snow
Nightingales sing
from white pagodas
An empty kettle
without a song

Susan Beth Furst
February 2016


"In A Dream" is a poem that I wrote last month for my poetry class. The assignment was to write several haiku (three line poems), usually having to do with nature, and then fashion them into a longer poem. I hope that you enjoyed the poem! As a result, I have become more observant of the things that surround me, especially the beauty of nature. 

As I looked to this poem for inspiration, I wondered about the last two lines. They don't seem to fit the beautiful descriptions of nature that precede them. What about the empty kettle? What does it mean to be without a song? Well I wrote those lines, so I should know, right?

To me an empty kettle means to be spiritually empty.  The story of the woman at the well, in the Gospel of John is a good example of this. She was an outcast in the village and living in shame. When she came to the well to draw water she met Jesus. He asked her for a drink. and then offered her "living water."  He told her all about herself, that she was married five times, and the man she was living with then was not her husband. Amazed, she ran to the village and said "Come see a man who told me all things I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" She and the whole village believed in Jesus, He changed their lives!

Jesus living water is the water that never runs out, the water that gives eternal life. He said, "whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  His point is this, if your kettle is empty, you can fill it, but it will always need to be refilled. So look to Him to give you the true water, spiritual water, the water that saves, the water of eternal life. How do you get this water? Ask Jesus, seek Him, and He will answer you. You can start by reading His word, in the Bible. This story is found in the Gospel of John chapter four.

Are you an outcast? Do you feel hopeless? Are you spiritually dry? Is your kettle empty? An empty kettle has no song. Look for Jesus' spiritual water to fill your kettle, it will never run dry, and you will have a new song. A song of the joy and the peace that Jesus gives, even in the midst of this beautiful but imperfect fallen world! He loves you! Ask Him for a drink! It will change your life!