Broken pieces.
A few months ago, I was just about to do my most favorite chore around the house, and I am certain that my attitude and thoughts were stellar and pleasing unto my Lord ;-) .... After a long day at work, I came home, got out of my car, and headed straight into the kitchen to cook. I didn't pass go, I didn't sit down and rest for a moment, I was just trying to get a meal on the table for my family. After I finished cooking, I ate, and then proceeded to wash the dishes....by this time I am sure my attitude was even better than it was when I first got home. Well, in my rush and my huff and puff, as I was putting one of the drinking glasses away, I dropped it. I tried to catch it, but it was too late. It hit the counter top and then it hit the tile floor. Glass was everywhere....It shattered and pieces went everywhere....All of a sudden my husband came running in the kitchen, "Are you okay?" he asked. By this time, I am a little embarrassed, I hate making mistakes, especially really noticeable ones. "Be careful, don't come in here, glass is everywhere, I am fine. Can you please just get me some shoes?" I started cleaning up the mess; I picked up the big pieces first because they were so easy to identify. Then I got the broom and started sweeping. I moved all the chairs, I swept the whole kitchen more thoroughly than I ever had before. I wanted to make sure to get all the glass up so that no one would cut their foot or get hurt on the glass I had shattered. After I was satisfied that I had cleaned up the mess, I made sure to tell all my family members to keep their shoes on because there might be glass shards on the floor. I then proceeded to finish where I left off, I put away the dishes and went to bed. The next day I woke up and went in the kitchen with no shoes on. Just in case you are wondering, no, I did not step in any glass....My family and I, went on with our lives and lived happily ever after. :-)
We are living happily ever after, praise God. BUT, just the other day, we had to move the refrigerator and low and behold, what did I find?!? No it wasn't a dead creature, but there was glass under there! Wait a minute, I diligently swept up the kitchen after I broke the glass. I was so sure that I got just about every piece up....I spent a lot of time sweeping all of that tile, going over the baseboards, under the table, even under the fridge, but how did I miss those broken pieces....
Now of course the glass isn't the topic at hand, nor is the extra work I put in after a long day to clean up the mess I made, the issue is the broken pieces. So many times in life we get hurt by people, they offend us, they mistreat us, they may use and abuse us, sometimes its knowingly and many times the offender never even realizes that they have hurt us. We find ways to cope, we may shrug it off and pretend to not care, we gossip, we slander, we stuff it down and pretend it never happened, or maybe those of us who are saved and sanctified may pray and ask God to help us forgive fully. But what if the pain or dissatisfaction is something we caused? We may blame God, we often blame others, we blame our parents, our spouses, we even blame ourselves...Finally at some point in time, many of us get sick and tired of being sick and tired and we try to do a few things to change our situation, we do a few things to clean up our messes....we vent about it to our friends as a form of therapy, we may pray in desperate situations, we enroll in Bible Studies, read self help books, get counseling.... sometimes we find it easier to pretend like it never happened, we brush the offender off and keep it moving, we isolate ourselves from certain people or situations, we put our heads in the sand if it's a situation we can't escape, we turn into workaholics, some of us turn into alcoholics. BUT the broken pieces remain. We hide them under the fridge, we put on shoes to avoid the pain, but the fact remains, the broken pieces don't just disappear.
Broken Pieces...
Like myself, I am sure there has been at least one time in your life when you thought you did all the work to clean up the broken pieces; only to find weeks later, months later, years later that you missed a piece. You thought you dealt with the situation, you thought you had forgiven the offender, you moved on, I mean, for crying out loud that was so last season. Unfortunately, it's not that simple, but actually it is.
See our Savior came to clean up our messes. He came to pick up all the broken pieces and because He is all seeing and all knowing he doesn't miss anything! That piece under the fridge, yeah he sees it; the piece that got stuck in your foot, yeah, he felt that pain, too. There is not one piece of you that he is not aware of. And when the pieces are shattered his greatest desire is to bind them up and make you whole.
Back to Humpty Dumpty, the smartest people in the kingdom could not make him whole. And in regards to my glass, there was no way I could ever make it whole and functional again, shoot I couldn't even find all the pieces. And plus it was too messy for me to attempt to put it back together; that would have been an overwhelming and pointless undertaking. But all too often, as we journey through our lives, situations, circumstances, and opportunities come up we try to fix them or work them out by ourselves. We put tape on our hurts, glue on our disappointments, shades on our shattered dreams. We do all that we can, we exhaust ourselves trying to fix things we don't even have the ability to fix. But just because we can't fix it that doesn't mean we have to walk around our whole life with broken pieces.
Our savior came on a mission.
Isaiah 61:1-9
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be call oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priest of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. "For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed."
What great news! He is waiting to bind up the broken pieces....He wants people to see you and recognize that you are a people the He has blessed! We don't have to pretend like everything is okay and we don't have to spend so much time trying to fix things ourselves. All we have to do is trust God and take him for his word. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, he came to heal the broken pieces. The smartest people in Humpty Dumpty's kingdom could not repair him, and I could not even restore a cheap drinking glass, so what makes us think that we can repair our own delicate hearts that we did not create? Our King, the King of kings, who comes from God's kingdom can put us back together again; that was His purpose that was His mission and His mission is completed!
So, when are you going to allow God full access to come clean under your fridge? When will you give him full access to your life, your dreams, your hopes, your family, your relationships, your health, your heart? I'm not saying it will be easy and I am not saying it won't be painful at times, but I am saying it will be worth it. Allow God in, submit your whole self to him, take him for His word.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
I will never look at a piece of broken glass the same. I will never again trivialize the task of cleaning up the broken pieces.
Search me, O Lord. Look under my fridge, get in the cracks of my baseboards, search me O Lord, find the broken pieces and bind them up in the name of Jesus!
A few months ago, I was just about to do my most favorite chore around the house, and I am certain that my attitude and thoughts were stellar and pleasing unto my Lord ;-) .... After a long day at work, I came home, got out of my car, and headed straight into the kitchen to cook. I didn't pass go, I didn't sit down and rest for a moment, I was just trying to get a meal on the table for my family. After I finished cooking, I ate, and then proceeded to wash the dishes....by this time I am sure my attitude was even better than it was when I first got home. Well, in my rush and my huff and puff, as I was putting one of the drinking glasses away, I dropped it. I tried to catch it, but it was too late. It hit the counter top and then it hit the tile floor. Glass was everywhere....It shattered and pieces went everywhere....All of a sudden my husband came running in the kitchen, "Are you okay?" he asked. By this time, I am a little embarrassed, I hate making mistakes, especially really noticeable ones. "Be careful, don't come in here, glass is everywhere, I am fine. Can you please just get me some shoes?" I started cleaning up the mess; I picked up the big pieces first because they were so easy to identify. Then I got the broom and started sweeping. I moved all the chairs, I swept the whole kitchen more thoroughly than I ever had before. I wanted to make sure to get all the glass up so that no one would cut their foot or get hurt on the glass I had shattered. After I was satisfied that I had cleaned up the mess, I made sure to tell all my family members to keep their shoes on because there might be glass shards on the floor. I then proceeded to finish where I left off, I put away the dishes and went to bed. The next day I woke up and went in the kitchen with no shoes on. Just in case you are wondering, no, I did not step in any glass....My family and I, went on with our lives and lived happily ever after. :-)
We are living happily ever after, praise God. BUT, just the other day, we had to move the refrigerator and low and behold, what did I find?!? No it wasn't a dead creature, but there was glass under there! Wait a minute, I diligently swept up the kitchen after I broke the glass. I was so sure that I got just about every piece up....I spent a lot of time sweeping all of that tile, going over the baseboards, under the table, even under the fridge, but how did I miss those broken pieces....
Now of course the glass isn't the topic at hand, nor is the extra work I put in after a long day to clean up the mess I made, the issue is the broken pieces. So many times in life we get hurt by people, they offend us, they mistreat us, they may use and abuse us, sometimes its knowingly and many times the offender never even realizes that they have hurt us. We find ways to cope, we may shrug it off and pretend to not care, we gossip, we slander, we stuff it down and pretend it never happened, or maybe those of us who are saved and sanctified may pray and ask God to help us forgive fully. But what if the pain or dissatisfaction is something we caused? We may blame God, we often blame others, we blame our parents, our spouses, we even blame ourselves...Finally at some point in time, many of us get sick and tired of being sick and tired and we try to do a few things to change our situation, we do a few things to clean up our messes....we vent about it to our friends as a form of therapy, we may pray in desperate situations, we enroll in Bible Studies, read self help books, get counseling.... sometimes we find it easier to pretend like it never happened, we brush the offender off and keep it moving, we isolate ourselves from certain people or situations, we put our heads in the sand if it's a situation we can't escape, we turn into workaholics, some of us turn into alcoholics. BUT the broken pieces remain. We hide them under the fridge, we put on shoes to avoid the pain, but the fact remains, the broken pieces don't just disappear.
Broken Pieces...
Like myself, I am sure there has been at least one time in your life when you thought you did all the work to clean up the broken pieces; only to find weeks later, months later, years later that you missed a piece. You thought you dealt with the situation, you thought you had forgiven the offender, you moved on, I mean, for crying out loud that was so last season. Unfortunately, it's not that simple, but actually it is.
See our Savior came to clean up our messes. He came to pick up all the broken pieces and because He is all seeing and all knowing he doesn't miss anything! That piece under the fridge, yeah he sees it; the piece that got stuck in your foot, yeah, he felt that pain, too. There is not one piece of you that he is not aware of. And when the pieces are shattered his greatest desire is to bind them up and make you whole.
Back to Humpty Dumpty, the smartest people in the kingdom could not make him whole. And in regards to my glass, there was no way I could ever make it whole and functional again, shoot I couldn't even find all the pieces. And plus it was too messy for me to attempt to put it back together; that would have been an overwhelming and pointless undertaking. But all too often, as we journey through our lives, situations, circumstances, and opportunities come up we try to fix them or work them out by ourselves. We put tape on our hurts, glue on our disappointments, shades on our shattered dreams. We do all that we can, we exhaust ourselves trying to fix things we don't even have the ability to fix. But just because we can't fix it that doesn't mean we have to walk around our whole life with broken pieces.
Our savior came on a mission.
Isaiah 61:1-9
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be call oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priest of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. "For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed."
What great news! He is waiting to bind up the broken pieces....He wants people to see you and recognize that you are a people the He has blessed! We don't have to pretend like everything is okay and we don't have to spend so much time trying to fix things ourselves. All we have to do is trust God and take him for his word. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, he came to heal the broken pieces. The smartest people in Humpty Dumpty's kingdom could not repair him, and I could not even restore a cheap drinking glass, so what makes us think that we can repair our own delicate hearts that we did not create? Our King, the King of kings, who comes from God's kingdom can put us back together again; that was His purpose that was His mission and His mission is completed!
So, when are you going to allow God full access to come clean under your fridge? When will you give him full access to your life, your dreams, your hopes, your family, your relationships, your health, your heart? I'm not saying it will be easy and I am not saying it won't be painful at times, but I am saying it will be worth it. Allow God in, submit your whole self to him, take him for His word.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
I will never look at a piece of broken glass the same. I will never again trivialize the task of cleaning up the broken pieces.
Search me, O Lord. Look under my fridge, get in the cracks of my baseboards, search me O Lord, find the broken pieces and bind them up in the name of Jesus!
