Years ago, I returned home from Spain with a small, brightly colored plate that I intended to use as a spoon rest. Shortly thereafter, I broke it by accidentally dropping it on the kitchen floor. The pieces were everywhere. I gathered all that I could find and carefully glued it back together. I didn’t want to lose my pretty souvenir from such a wonderful trip. Despite the cracks, it still serves quite well for its intended purpose.
Each of us enters the world, as the plate entered my home, perfect and complete. Yet, in time, living in a fallen world has an impact. Despite what we may think, there are no perfect people—all are broken in some way.The breaks may be more obvious in some of us—harder impacts create greater damage—but even paint can't fully cover everything.
With help—love and compassion—and sometimes through counseling, the sharp edges of the shattered pieces can be smoothed away but cracks will always remain.
But that’s good news for those who follow Christ, for it’s only through holes that a light can be seen when stored inside a jar of clay. It is when we accept the beauty in our brokenness—and cease to try to hide it from the world—that His light in us shines most clearly for those living in darkness.
Ask God to reveal to you the broken places in your heart and mind. It may just be only through them that you are able to completely fulfill God's intended purpose for your life.
Message for the Journey:
Don"t be ashamed of your broken places; give them to God. His living waters will polish their rough edges leaving behind glorious windows for His light to shine out from within you.
-Ann Wilds
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
(2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT)
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