like a fine piece of crystal shattered in the kitchen sink --the shards twinkle enticingly among the soapy water, like beautiful diamonds....but be careful! They'll cut you to the quick.
Deadly....
Broken....
like a porcelain mug crashing onto the floor, into pieces much too small to attempt to glue back together. All that's really left is the handle....but what good is it?
Useless....
Broken....
like an antique pocket watch finally wound way too tight -- its face smashed, with springs bouncing and dangling every which way....a treasured family heirloom once but now?
Worthless...
Broken....
like a child's doll, shiny and new, loved and cared for once upon a time --but now, hairless, with arms and legs missing; naked, sentenced to the bottom of the toy chest.
Forgotten....
Broken....
like an old car, junked and left to rust and rot in someone's back yard, with weeds growing all around and through it -- in such desperate need of restoration, but no one has time, and the cost and effort are too great.
Unfixable....
Broken....
like I am now
Broken....
like I don't want to be
Broken....
like God needs me to be, so that He can gently, lovingly transform me, restore me, make me like new!!
Broken....
All of us, through various seasons of our lives, have experienced brokenness in one way or another.
And different people react and respond in different ways to life in their broken state.
Some of us may become angry and refuse to allow our brokenness to humble us, so we react by striking out in hurtful, harmful, even deadly ways to others -- and to ourselves.
Some of us may feel like a complete mess, believing the lie that we have no purpose in life any longer and that we are useless.
Still others may feel worthless, discarded, unloved, unloveable and forgotten in our brokenness.
And finally, some may feel unfixable and really when you come down to it -- we're just NOT worth someone else's time, effort and energy. We're stuck being who and what we are. We'll never change.
Over the years, I have felt and wrestled with all of these things. And all of these feelings, reactions and beliefs are so dead wrong. Because our loving, gracious, patient and compassionate Abba Father is more than able to help us.
He invites us to come to Him, our Creator God, in our messy state, like children with tear-stained faces, to bring Him all the broken pieces of our lives. He is indeed the Potter and we are the clay. And He alone.... IF we remain still upon the Potter's wheel, not trying to jump off part way through the process....can piece us carefully and lovingly back together.
God alone can:
Remold us...
Refresh us...
Renew us...
Restore us...
....transforming us into something even better than we were before. Something...and someone....beautiful.
For we are God's workmanship -- His poetic masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
Did you hear what I said?
Did you read the words I wrote down in red?
I was broken once for you
And no one loves you like I do
And that's the beauty of this grace
It can put the pieces back in place
And shine reflections of forgiveness
In a million different ways
So lift them up to Me
All the broken pieces
All the broken pieces of your life
To Me
All the broken pieces
All the broken pieces of your life ~ All The Broken Pieces, by Matthew West
(Below is a YouTube video for Matthew West's song, 'All The Broken Pieces.' Kudos to the person/people who put this video together...it's beautiful)
Broken...like I don't want to be...wow and amen. A friend told me she believed God was going to use this current circumstance to break me - I believe she may be right, but Lord, I don't want to hurt in the process, ya know? Thanks for the reminder not to jump off the wheel part way through the process.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Toni. But we both know how much easier said than done THAT can be. A friend of mine...actually the one I'm going to have coffee with tomorrow...told that to me once. It's stuck with me ever since.
ReplyDelete