I packed the box myself. Maybe that should have been my first clue…. But as I wrapped up my special dishes to ship them from Los Angeles, California, to Brooklyn, New York, I didn’t realize their fate was sealed.
I knew it wasn’t a good sign when I heard clinking sounds as the box was delivered. Sure enough, the plates were in broken chunks.
What a waste. Can’t use these! I disgustedly thought.
Fortunately, my dad thought ahead enough to have the box insured. I went to the post office with my box of broken plates and filled out the forms. The clerk said I could get replacement cost, though I didn’t see how they could be replaced since the plates were from Israel. But at least I had money in hand.
Then the clerk reached to take my box to the back to throw it in the trash. Rather shyly, I asked if I could keep the box.
“We can’t give it to you. Besides, why would you want it? They’re broken plates!”
“I know, but I want them.” (I had read a magazine article about an artist who took broken pieces of china and made picture frames and furniture and all sorts of beautiful things with them. Maybe I could do something with the broken pieces.) “Please could I have the box? It’s just going in the trash….”
By now at least three men were certain I was crazy and insisted that “rules are rules.” They could not give me the box. One lady clerk, however, caught on to what was happening and looked me in the eye and asked, “You want them for something, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said with a rather embarrassed smile. “I do.”
She walked with determination by the three men who were certain that no one gets a box back after an insurance claim on it had been filled. She grabbed the box and handed it over to me.
With a huge smile, I thanked her and left that crowded post office with my box of broken … treasure.
However, since I’m not much of a project person and I’m usually pretty busy, I never got around to working on it. So the box was left in the basement. Then came the time to move. You guessed it. I packed and shipped … a box of broken china … to Florida. Someday, I thought, I’m going to make something out of that broken china. I was convinced that those broken pieces could be made into something beautiful.
It’s kind of like you and me. Sometimes we think we’re doing a good job of taking care of ourselves, but unexpected things happen. The next thing we know, we’re broken into pieces. We don’t feel useful. We used to be pretty, but now we feel used and ugly—good enough to be tossed into the garbage, but that’s about it.
People around us pretty much agree. Broken. Useless. The rules say, Unless you live exactly this one way if you messed up—to the garbage dump you go!
But an artist comes along and thinks, I can use those broken pieces and make something beautiful out of them.
And on a bright, sunny day, he pulls out the box. He also grabs an old table that was cast aside in the basement. He’s going to make a new creation.
He cleans off the surface of the table. He carefully takes out the broken pieces, looks them over, and a plan forms in his mind. He may break the pieces even more to make them fit together better. Carefully, looking for the best angle, he glues down the broken pieces.
Does this sound a little bit familiar? Jesus looks at our broken lives and rescues us from being thrown into the dump. He sees what no one—not you yourself or anyone else—can see: a woman, though broken, with great potential. With a little help, she can be made into something quite useful, beautiful, and worth more than money can buy.
At first we squirm as He picks us up. Even if we’re broken, we like calling the shots. Sometimes we don’t like being committed to something or Someone. But after awhile, we get kind of used to it and we settle down.
Just as we get used to the place He’s put us, the artist puts this grout all around the broken pieces. It’s sticky and it’s different again. He carefully wipes and cleans the top of the china piece. Now more than ever, we’re connected to other broken pieces. He’s making an entirely new piece by putting broken pieces together and holding them together by the grout.
Finally it’s finished.
A work of art made out things tossed aside and broken.
People come by and “ooh and ah” over its beauty.
Oh, you think, I couldn’t be beautiful after all the stuff that’s gone on in my life. You may even have family members around you who would agree with you.
But the artist, the One who can take broken pieces and make something brand new, says, “Oh, but you’re wrong. You are beautiful. I see what you can’t see. I can make a brand new you with the broken pieces you give me. Let’s just see what I can do!”
Feeling broken and tossed aside today? Reach up to Jesus to take your brokenness. He’ll probably have some work to do on you, and it may take awhile. But if you let Him, He’ll make you into a woman who not only was rescued out of the dump, but made into a beautiful work of art. And like the table, wherever you live and work will be a much better and prettier place just because you’re there.
Trust the Artist,
Crystal Wacker Knapp