When Things Get Broken

 Sometimes things get broken.
They just do.

 Sometimes objects... sometimes possessions... and sometimes people  who are most precious to us.

 Was it broken by accident?
 Or was something this special to me, broken only to prove a point?
 This is a question often asked by those wondering why God would allow their lives to be broken.   Have you ever thought through this question, or only asked it? And was the object pictured broken by accident, or to prove a point?

... I'm not telling.

 Why?
 Maybe because I have something important to tell you and I want you to continue to search for information.
 Maybe I'm not telling because this is my blog. Some people read it because they really care. Some read to criticize, snoop, and be cynical... others are just curious, and some are passing the time. For any of these readers, your attention may be grasped far more by what I do, recorded on this blog, than who I am. And I want your attention, I want to tell you something. So why it was broken is not the most relevant point.

 However it happened, this broken thing that really mattered to me... has taught me a lesson. And it is one that I do not want to forget. And I think it's worth sharing. It was just something important to me. And now it is really, really broken.

 It wasn't a victim to one tragedy, one broken event, or one broken piece. Many breaks and tumbles have rendered this object completely and utterly shattered. Not many things have the power to break themselves willingly. I did not entitle this post "When Things Break", but rather, it When Things Get Broken. The "how" has already happened... so now the next question is.. "So what?"

 Does it really matter? It is just one of many. Something else could easily be used to fill it's place.
But it was special to me. And it still is. And so we find the next question that must be asked... 
Now what?

I have to admit my first thought is that, sad as it is, it would be easiest to regard it for the broken thing it has become, to let it be identified as something once beautiful that was broken, and to be done with it. After all, touching those broken pieces might only hurt me more.

 I could find some friends to feel sorry enough for me... but who didn't see the original form... sit and reconstruct... glue.. refashion, and force together a new form far to fragile to ever be touched... or ever be of use.
But the broken thing would be most prized. I'd have to be so careful with it, I would surely forget why it was precious in the first place.

 The thing is, I have no idea how to fix things that get so completely broken.
 And I have no desire to make it look like something that simply, no longer is. I know the One who made the broken thing in the first place. And so it is worth the risk of picking up these broken pieces. 

 I have no idea what to do with them. And I'm realizing that's ok.


I have no idea what it will look like when these pieces have been remade. And I'm reminded that they are in the hands of the One who made it in the first place, and who cares enough to make all things new.
I have lost the ability to make the most important of decisions or to be confident ... it's hard to be confident about so many broken pieces. But oh the JOY in knowing my confidence is unshakable in exactly that: I can't fix this. Thank goodness, I am not meant to fix this!! But I know the One who can! I've watched Him refashion and redeem broken things over, and over again. And He's ready and willing to do it again! This thing was broken and now... there is an opportunity to be made fresh and to be made new!
AND.. I am truly, completely, and honestly thrilled, humbled, and amazed that God sees broken things worth saving. Worth redeeming. Worth using for His glory. "What is man that He is mindful of us?"

Thankfulness is bigger than the brokenness. Joy is bigger than a shattered thing. Choose to take your broken pieces to the capable Daddy God who is Our Redeemer. Why sit around trying to pretend we know how to fix it... or that fixing a fragile monument to all things broken is worthwhile? We can laugh with our Savior about how amazed we will all be to see what He has in mind for those shattered pieces. We can rejoice that it doesn't matter how broken things get... reality with Abba, Daddy God is so  much bigger than that... and it's ok that we don't see it all. He has something to new show us. He has something new to tell us. He is making all things new. 

 there is hope. And He is my Savior. 

  Maybe we can rejoice in our brokenness. Maybe the pieces can be redeemed and made new! You can't go somewhere you've never gone, if you're not willing to do something you've never done.
I don't want to be fixed. I want to be changed. There is no greater joy than knowing that God is about this business, every single day. 

Happy New Year. He is making all things new! 


*Two of my favorite songs on this subject:
Beautiful Things by Gungor
Unredeemed  by Selah