BROKEN BUT NOT DESTROYED

The sacrifices of God are a

broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O

God, You will not despise.

Psalm 51:17

An incident yesterday got me thinking about brokenness. When we first moved here to Tennessee eight years ago, there were things for the house I purchased mostly for décore purposes, but also because out of need. One of those things was a new canister set for the kitchen. I found one I really liked through a computer purchase and have never regretted purchasing it. It is ceramic in make up and colorful just the way I like it. The set has its place on a particular counter that is handy to get to and at the same time, looks nice sitting right where it is.

I decided around noon yesterday to fix myself a bowl of cereal. I took sugar out of the larger canister that sits nearest to the edge of the counter. In my haste, I lost my grip on the lid of that canister and it went flying to the floor. The fortunate thing is that ceramic doesn't break like glass. Glass shatters...ceramic tends to break in manageable pieces with lots of small chips around it. Brian came running and pretty much gave up on the usability of that poor ceramic top.

Without hesitation, I picked up the large pieces while he swept the rest of the damage up in a dust pan. Brian felt the lid was a lost cause. After he left the kitchen, I proceeded to “diddle” with the chunks and found they could be glued together and once again usable. They wouldn't look quite the same with some chips now gone but from a distance, I felt any damage wouldn't be that noticeable.

All of this got me thinking about how grateful I am now for some of the broken experiences God has allowed me to experience in my life. Many of those experiences, I brought upon myself. God and no one else had to do the breaking in many cases, but I can recall how God picked up the pieces and put me back together with His “super glue”...His amazing love.

Looking on my computer at a Bible app I often use, I looked up the word “broken.” I was surprised the things mentioned with regard to being broken. Some of them are: armies, Sabbath, some body parts, buildings, branches, ships, bread, congregations, covenants and even the broken body of our Lord. Please note that most of those broken things God used in trying to get His message across to individuals or groups. Many of those things were caused by folks and their deliberate disobedience.

Job probably spoke more personally of his broken experiences than others in Scripture. As I've looked at those things he said about the breaking process in his life, his feelings about it all feels like I have when I've gone through some breaking times. It's been a combination of not understanding the why's, while at the same time, seeing God in it all.

Often when God allows a breaking time in our lives, we don't think in those moments about being very spiritual. We know the things we ought to do....Bible, pray, confess sin, even be faithful in church attendance. If attending church, it might be just going through motions. It's as if such experiences almost paralyze us emotionally and spiritually bringing us to a stand still. And yet, if I stood still for too long, I ended up spending the time crying, fretting, stewing while feeling very sorry for myself.

The thing is that we are God's children. He loves us with a love we can't even begin to comprehend and yet, he stands ready as a perfect parent would to help put the broken pieces of our lives back together. We moms used to wipe a child's tears away, kiss the boo-boos, bandage up the hurts, allow the teenage girl to cry out her hurts on our shoulders...we did a little of it all. God heals the brokenness because He can do it like no other can. We don't need to always cry on the shoulders of others, but God does provide friends we can find comfort with, friends who will pray and lift our spirits.

Oh yes...my canister top. I tried without glue putting pieces together just to see if it could be done and it looked like it could work. Took them to Brian who is our Mr. Fix-it. He got out his super glue and got the lid put together, very nicely I must say. There are a couple of obvious places where some small open places are, but from a distance, the damage isn't that noticeable. I'll tell you though that I will take good care of that lid. It went through a real breaking process not of its doing. It's still very usable and it's beauty is only slightly marred.

It'll be the same for us. When we walk through those breaking times, pieces will begin to come together and our Father will love on us, heal our spirits and we will have learned. A caution: if we don't learn from our broken times when God intended such to be to teach us a lesson, we may have to go through the same again just to make sure the lesson “sticks” We may be left with a few scars and chips, but they will remind us of victory brought about through our Father Who never wastes a thing in our lives that is intended for our good and His glory.

Dear Father, I remember some days when I was more broken than I can even now describe. There were some dark days, but You as usual were my Light and Salvation and I learned I needed not fear. Your presence was and is still so precious. My prayer is that I will stay close to You, knowing You will do all things well in my life. In Jesus name...Amen