It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I was packing up the last remnants of the Christmas season when the ornament slipped out of my hand and broke in dozens of pieces on the floor. I was already reminiscing about each of the ornaments as I took them off the tree, since most of our ornaments have sentimental value for one reason or another. But now this memory would be gone forever.
Early in our son’s marriage, my new daughter-in-law and I went to a local Christmas bazaar featuring many handmade crafts and gifts. It was a fun day together, and she bought me the hand-painted ornament that now lay on the floor in pieces. She knew how much I loved pansies and gave it to me as a Christmas gift a few weeks later. I am sad to no longer have this reminder of a good memory.
But as I cleaned up the broken mess on the floor, I couldn’t help but think about some verses in the Bible that talk about brokenness and the fragile nature of each of our lives. I used to think that only other people were broken; I have discovered in the last twenty years that everyone is broken in some way . . . even me. Thankfully, we are reminded in the Psalms that God is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18) and that he heals them and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). We also discover that God most desires those who come to him with a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).
Amazingly, it is this willingness to be broken that makes us the most useful for God’s kingdom and purposes. That’s because God can turn brokenness into something even better that can be used for ministry for him. Jeremiah 18:4 tells us about a field trip that God took Jeremiah on in order to teach him how to prophesy to the nation of Israel. He went to visit a potter and witnessed this: “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”
God still uses broken or “spoiled” vessels by reworking them into something new that is useful for his purposes. We don’t want to be broken because we don’t always understand what’s best. But God does. And when he looks at us in our “fragile jars of clay”, he sees vessels that can be reworked by him to carry the “treasure” of the gospel message to those around us (2 Corinthians 4:7). This verse goes on to remind us that God’s work through our brokenness is what will bring the glory to him and not to us.
I can’t bring back the beautiful ornament that was broken. But I can embrace my own brokenness by allowing God to use me “just as I am” to minister to the lives of others “as it seems good to the potter to do”. I’ll always be amazed that this is God’s plan, and I’ll always be humbled to be a part of it. May you and I be faithful whenever he calls.
