Broken Glass

“Sometimes things have to break to come together.”

Loren Thornburg

Sometimes things just do not go as you planned.  I had one of those where it seemed everything I did had a glitch in it.  One of the many things was that I broke a glass while cleaning, which only added to my cleaning work.  Yet, as I was on my hands and knees carefully cleaning glass pieces I couldn’t help but see truth in the broken glass.  My floor was getting cleaner because the glass had broken.  I has planned on cleaning the floor, but not to extent that I was in search of making sure that every spot was clean and clear of glass.   Also until it broke I didn’t know that the glass mattered to me.   The brokenness reveals something to us that we couldn’t have seen before.  So, no I didn’t put all the hundreds of pieces back together, but I found life put a little more back together.  I found I can be thankful when life feels like broken pieces knowing my heart is being cleaned and purified in ways that couldn't have happened otherwise.Things didn’t go as I thought and certainly not as I planned, but in the midst of my mess I found truth: Sometimes things have to break to come together.

“Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon. May God, who puts all things together, makes all things whole, Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus, the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant, Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead, Now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him, Make us into what gives him most pleasure, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah. All glory to Jesus forever and always! Oh, yes, yes, yes.”
Hebrews 13:18-21 Message

God is a god who puts all things together.  The thing is, He often breaks them apart in order to put them together.  It’s not quite how I would think is the best approach yet it’s the only way to make it whole.  As I was on the floor picking up the glass pieces I saw how good God is at putting broken things together.  The problem is I see it as Him breaking it and wondering why He is doing it that way.  When in reality it was already broken.  It isn’t like the glass I broke.  He doesn’t take things that are whole and break them to make it more difficult.  He takes things that are already broken or cracked and breaks them so He can put them back together.  It won't be like putting the glass back together that will always reveal the cracks even if you glued it.  It’s all together different.  He is all together different.  He makes things whole, new, and alive.  He gives you everything you need.  He puts you together, even if it means breaking.  So when you feel like you’re heart and life are in pieces all over the floor, don’t forget He is in the business of putting you back together and making you whole.  Yes, Yes Yes!

Stay the Course

“Patiently endure, no matter how long.

Continually persevere, no matter how hard.  

Bravely remain, no matter how it looks.

The goal is worth it, stay the course.”

Loren Thornburg

Often in traffic I get impatient and take a detour to try to avoid waiting.  Yet, what I find is if I had stayed the course I would have gotten there faster than my detour.  You see there is a reason I was going that way in the first place; it’s the best way to go.  Stay the course is an idiom that means to persevere in the midst of difficulty because the desired outcome is worth the obstacles met along the way.  It is thought to have originated with sailors having to endure harsh weather knowing they needed to stay the course otherwise they would get lost at sea.  Arriving safely meant they had to endure no matter how difficult.  Even with all of our technological advances and navigational systems there are still storms we can’t avoid.  I am talking about much more than traffic or rain now.  Life brings all kinds of hardships.  Rather than try to find a way around it let’s “stay the course” and go through them.  The goal is worth it...stay the course.  

“What a gift to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end.  That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.”

James 5:11 MSG

James was writing to encourage believers to persevere.  With patient endurance he calls them to follow as Job did.  It is important to know why.  Not why the storm is happening, but why He is calling them to stay the course.  James calls it a gift.  It’s a gift because of what God does when you patiently endure.  You can have staying power (as the Message calls it) here knowing that God cares down to the last detail.  The detail that you think doesn’t matter, the little thing that doesn’t seem a big deal, it all matters to Him.  He cares about the little things, He cares about your details, He cares about you.  So patiently endure, stay the course, and look to Him for staying power.  It’s worth it!  It’s always worth it...right down to the last detail.  

It Matters

"There is purpose; there is value; it matters; you’re worth it.”

Loren Thornburg

Ever had one of those moments where someone you didn’t think was impacted at all by what you did or said comes back and shares how much it meant to them?  In the surprise and shock of it I find myself encouraged by more than just the one.  I am encouraged in knowing that there are likely to be more.  The same is true for you.  There may even be one right now that you are impacting that you don’t know.  Their faces and responses don’t always give it away.  Often, they don’t even know the ways  you are influencing them.  Don’t miss what these moments reveal to us: Keep on keeping on because you never know who you are impacting.  Let these moments encourage us to do the same: To tell those who have made a difference in our life.  Even when you least expect it or feel it, it really does matter.  There is a purpose and great value for right here.  We can’t forget that. 

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

I Corinthians 15:58 NLT

Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless….NOTHING.  That means that EVERYTHING you do for the Lord is useful.  The problem is that we determine what is useful and what is useless by what we can see and by our perception of the immediate results.  There are many flaws within this determination.  Our perception is not the same as His and our timing is not the same as His.  One key factor I often miss in evaluating the usefulness of what I am doing is what He is doing in me.  Often I am looking at the outside and miss the inside job.  So you see, this is why we can be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work because we know He is at work in all of it, using every last bit.  He is at work in you because you’re worth it.  It all matters!

What I Thought I Wanted

“What we often can’t see in the moment is the blessing of not getting what we wanted.”

Loren Thornburg

When caring for a young child it is easy to see that they don’t always know what is best for them.  As adults, we understand that although something like sugar is what they want it is not what is best for them.  I am finding I am the same way.  I don’t always know what is best for me.  Often not getting what I thought I wanted makes me available for something even better.  The opportunity I didn’t get keeps me looking and brings me to an even better one.   It’s not what I thought I wanted, but it’s better.  

“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 Amplified

Our understanding in relation to our Heavenly Father is like that of a child to a parent only much greater.  Often it's hard for me to understand why God wouldn’t work in the way that makes sense to me.  Yet, His understanding is much greater than mine.  He is sovereign and He sees all things and knows all things about me.  He knows how to work all of these things in accordance with what I need.  Like a parent it is hard to not give the child you love what they want but you know there is something better that you don’t want them to miss.  Maybe this situation that you don’t understand is the same.  Maybe your Father has something He doesn’t want you to miss even if you can’t understand it or see it right now.  That means you have to leave your insight and understanding in His hands and rely on Him, the One who created you.  So let us not rely on our understanding but on His, leaning and trusting with all that we are.  

As an additional thought enjoy these song lyrics from Sara Groves: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNPjYghwLO0

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box

Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off

What he thought he wanted, what he got instead

Leaves him broken and grateful

I passed understanding a long, long time ago

And the simple home of systems and answers we all know

What I thought I wanted, what I got instead

Leaves me broken and somehow peaceful

I keep wanting you to be fair

But that's not what you said

I want certain answers to these prayers

But that's not what you said

When I get to heaven I'm gonna go find Job

I want to ask a few hard questions, I want to know what he knows

About what it is he wanted and what he got instead

How to be broken and faithful

What I thought I wanted

What I thought I wanted

What I thought I wanted

What I thought I wanted

Staring in the water like Esops foolish dog

I can't help but reflect on what it was I almost lost

What it was I wanted, what I got instead

Leaves me broken and grateful

I'm broken and grateful

I want to be broken and grateful

I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful

I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful