I saw my hubby with his mouth hung open and he stared in disbelief.
His words, frozen until they finally rolled out,
“I must be some kind of idiot!” “How the heck did I do this?”
On the table, lay several broken plates that had died a violent death
Unfortunately truth be told, I had set up our dinning room table for disaster. On the table, I had been sorting through the 80-some collector plates to label them and categorize them – The Wildlife Series, The Hummingbird Series, The Great Clipper Ships, etc. Some of these plates were boxed and others were just stacked. It has been a work in progress. There are far too many to keep as memories of my father who collected them. I needed to get rid of most of them. The sorted plate groups made tall perilous piles
Next to the table with plates is a tall china cabinet. A few days earlier before this incident, Doug and I had discussed that the china cabinet would look better in the corner. On a whim of a moment, he got behind the loaded table to move the cabinet by himself. His focus and attention was on the glassware inside the cabinet, unaware of the stack of plates on the table. In the end, the cabinet got moved, but my plates got shattered.
Looking at the aftermath, the warzone only lasted a brief moment before I screamed with delight! “These are beautifully colored pieces!” “Quick, let’s get a box to save them!” Doug was looked at the mad woman he was married to and shook his head. He was staring at the mess and damage; However, I was seeing a work of art! “These broken bits and pieces are great for making mosaics!” I rambled on. I usually have to settle and use tile or marbles when making my mosaics. There is nothing like a great colorful plate! I have to wait for an event like this to happen, or the “mercier” in me, feels too bad for the plate.
Our little story got me thinking. Maybe God looks at our broken lives as an opportunity for some of His best handiwork? A shattered life may just have the colored hues of humility needed for the mosaic He is creating. I don’t believe He causes the entire calamity, but He certainly knows how to use opportunities to make us dazzling glimpses of His glory. Today, I’m asking to look at life deeper with His eyes, instead of mine – most of us sit around and call ourselves idiots and beat up ourselves with “Why?” questions when crisis hits. Or worse, why try gluing something back together that will never be right again, when we need to move on. This is normal human response, but radically thinking- maybe “shattered” is just fine. What if God in His compassion is holding us when problems arise, but is also dancing around with delight because His creation is taking shape? When we see as God does, we can relax knowing that something beautiful is around the corner because He always has plan!
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