CRACKED POT!

Beautiful Garden Pot. A pot with a history. It was given by sweet friend Julie, when she moved to DC & then on to Florida. A friend who joined with me in prayer for our terminal cancer friend, Claudia. It seems one of us was always with her even at the hospice center. That adds to the beauty of the pot.

Yet, there's another side....often hidden from view. A brokenness I've tried to keep hidden, since the Feb.'22 ice storm.....even though I know the beautiful story of its history.

Like me. A cracked pot. Rarely do I show my cracks. 

But God in his love and mercy....is close to me even when I am broken and crushed & choosing not to show my cracks.

He does not despise my brokenness. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

HALLELUJAH!

A CRACKED POT!

A "cracked pot"!!!

Just what I feel like at times.

Note hairline fracture on teapot!

Hardly visible. Yet, crumbly underneath!

At least it's just a cookie. 

In life it's not as visible but the brokenness can still reside, until God's grace takes all those crumbles and tangles and uses them for our good and His glory.

Do I hear an "A-men" from all you cracked pots reading this entry?

BROKENNESS

2/28/12 From my neighborhood walk to my backyard patio, I saw brokenness. In the physical realm brokenness seems like such a negative. Destruction. Disenchantment. Disappointment.

Bu† God…..these last few weeks has been showing me, once again, the necessity of brokenness in the spiritual realm. Brokenness is humility---our humble response to God’s conviction of sin in our lives. It’s one of His ways for accomplishing transformation in our lives.

In the BSF lesson scripture (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) reminded me of my “treasure within.” But how do others see that treasure within? They see it through my brokenness. When the Lord’s life flows through my weak and frail jar of clay, Jesus “sticks out all over.”

In my life, brokenness first had to occur through thick walls of self-protection that kept both earthly and heavenly relationships at bay. The distance was self-induced to ensure pain avoidance. For a long while, it worked. Bu†God began to tear away at the protective seal that I had tightly woven over my heart. He showed me my sin. The words in Dr.Larry Crabb’s, Inside Out, jumped off the page at me.  He called self-protection what it was. Self-protection is a sin. A sin requiring repentance in order for my relationship with the Lord to grow.

The demand to keep ourselves safe is strong.  We look in all the wrong places for the relief our soul desires so badly, developing a style of relating designed to protect ourselves from the pain we fear.  Although our self-protective strategies are foolish (even when we get the safety we want, we realize it’s not what we want), we still cling to our ‘right’ to protect ourselves.  We demand that our pain be relieved.  That core demand must be faced before we’ll give it up through repentance and learn to re-direct our energy into love. (Crabb p.142)

For me brokenness was a good thing. Painful, yes---but worth the suffering! A yielding. A willing submission. Rising from the dust of my shattered jar was the Spirit of the Living Lord. It was His filling in my life that fulfilled me. Brokenness was my path to wholeness. A dichotomy of sorts---a broken person ready to wholly serve in grace-filled ways.

When I am broken, the life of my Lord is put on display for others. Can you see Him?