Broken Beauty

Happy Friday! Today I am participating in "Five Minute Friday" an opportunity to write thoughts about a given work prompt. Today's word is "Broken".  

Broken—what a sad word. When I hear the word broken, in my mind a picture comes of something fragile that was once beautiful but now lays shattered in pieces on the floor. When something is 'broken', it is easily discarded, or no longer useful to us. Broken applies to more than items that take a fall or become damaged, it is a heartbreaking word when applied to relationships, attitudes or people. 

But for every broken thing, a cry comes out—fix it. Put it back together, take the pieces and bind them up. From plates on the floor to hearts in anguish, if someone could just come and put the pieces back together again. 

If we were never broken, we would never know the wholeness of God. That’s the beauty of brokenness. When our hearts are broken, when we’ve just made a mess of things, that is the space when God can step in and put the pieces back together again. 

Broken beauty— is a place where God has touched and made beautiful. Not restored perfection, but a place to never forget His mercy, compassion and love. A broken plate never looks the same again. It is fixed, but cracks and lines show the work of the repairer.  When our lives are broken, they are forever changed. But through those cracks and lines left from the break, shines the beauty of the hand of our Lord. The love and mercy of the Lord  flows through as a constant reminder of His help. 

Let’s not be ashamed of the scars and cracks where we have been broken, but use them as opportunities to let God's love seep through the cracks into the lives of others. An empathy which is compassion in action - is a heart feeling for someone struggling that compells us to step into the situation.  As our wounds heal, they form a scar. Those scars are not as painful as time heals them, but they are always with us and a part of us. They are a reminder of the wound that was there, but has healed. As we allow others to see our scars, we impart hope to them, that healing is possible and this ignites hope in their life.  As God heals, may we share with others about the Lord who makes broken things beautiful. 

“God makes the gospel beautiful, and that’s through our brokenness.”

-Josh Weidmann

This is a sweet story I have always loved that shares how brokenness can bring beauty! 

A long time ago, there lived a farmer. The farmer owned a watering pot, and for many years the farmer would carry his pot from his big old farmhouse at the top of the hill, down the road to his fields below.

The watering pot was a kind pot, always talking with and listening to the other tools that lived in the shed next to the farmhouse. Mostly, the pot was happy. There was just one problem. The pot had a crack in it.

The crack made the watering pot feel broken and useless. “How can I be of any value when I can’t even hold my water?” the pot thought to himself.

The watering pot loved the farmer, so one day he decided to talk to the farmer about his crack. “I don’t know if you have noticed,” the pot said softly, on the brink of tears. “But I have a crack. I don’t think I’m of any value to you anymore. It’s okay if you want to throw me out and get a new pot.”

The farmer was quiet and thought for a while. To the watering pot, it seemed like hours, although it was probably just a few minutes. Finally, the farmer brought the pot to the window, overlooking the fields below. “I want to show you something,” he told the pot.

As the watering pot looked out the window, down on the road and fields below, he noticed something. On the left side of the road, nothing grew. It was like a barren dessert. But on the right side of the road, where the farmer walked each day carrying the leaky pot, it was lush and green, with trees, plants, and beautiful flowers.

“I think I’ll keep you,” the farmer said.