Baskets Are Better Than Bottles

What can you keep in a bottle?  Oh, some people build entire ships in bottles.  And there are the occasional messages that wash up in bottles on distant shores.  But mostly, bottles are for keeping liquids from becoming puddles.

Now there was a time when all sorts of liquids were stored in bottles.  There were milk bottles, soda bottles, beer bottles, baby bottles, and medicine bottles.   But, with the advent of aluminum and plastic, bottles (and especially the environmentally-friendly returnable kind) became far less common.

Today, if someone says they’re going to pick up a bottle, bring a bottle, or drink a bottle, there is little question as to what said bottle contains.  Bottles are for booze.  Just stop by your local bottle store and behold the seemingly endless display of shapes, sizes, and concoctions!

Baskets, on the other hand (while admittedly worthless for puddle containment), are far more practical.  You have your gift baskets, fruit baskets, bread baskets, and laundry baskets.  And there’s also the ever popular bushel basket which, when combined with a peck, can hold a whole lot of love.

Once upon a time, a mother even tucked her baby boy into a basket and hid him among the reeds of a foreign river.  That boy grew into a man who would one day lead his people from slavery to freedom in a land flowing with milk and honey.

What can you keep in a basket?  The possibilities are endless:  Precious memories.  Fragile dreams.  Renewed hope.  Baskets hold but a sampling of God’s abundance, each can be thought of as a cornucopia of sorts, pouring goodness into this bottle-less day of gratitude and thanks giving.

That’s a puddle I can play in!