Forty-Five Verses: When The Glass Shatters

The lid to the coffee canister somehow fell off while I was getting it out of the cabinet...and shattered into a hundred tiny pieces of glass on the counter. The canister used to house my flour until I came to the honest conclusion with myself that clearly I don't bake much and thus don't need flour and sugar displayed (aka taking up space) on my counter! And I just decided to put the coffee up in the cabinet yesterday. Not gonna work. So I clean up the mess, go ahead and fix my coffee pot for tomorrow and put the coffee back up in the cabinet without a lid. In the meantime, I remember a cute jar with a chalkboard sticker on the front that I had just put in the attic. Hmmm, Nothing would do until I had the coffee safely put in it's new container. And while I was at it, I added a mug organizer to the cabinet. I had it shoved on the bottom shelf of my pantry and had put it in the attic as well. See,  I had followed the directions in Emily Ley's book, The Simplified Life (love) and put all organizing things together as I was decluttering and then shopped from that to reorganize. She says don't spend a dollar on organizing items because you likely have plenty already in your home. True.  Yay, on a role. And lastly, I placed the glass canister in the dishwasher because it already has a purpose once it's clean...art supplies such as pens and markers. So there you have it. This whole scenario took place in about twenty minutes this morning before work.

Life can sometimes feel like that glass canister.  One minute all is well and the next it is falling apart and shattering into a hundred pieces. How can things change so quickly? Never in a million years would you have thought this would happen to you..whatever it is. And there are all the pieces. There was no resemblence even.. of the lid...surrounded by tiny fragments of broken glass. Brokenness feels that way. As if there is no getting back, turning back or going back ...to normal. Or the normal you wanted. Maybe even the normal you thought you needed. The one that would make you whole. Now remember that my glass canister was once on display for another use and it now is on it's way to being used in a whole new way. The in between is the hard part. The brokenness.The disappointment. The disbelief.  Cleaning up the mess.And for me today, being careful that I didn't get cut while sweeping slithers of glass into the trash. The shattered pieces are shattered, of no use. If I left them there I would put not only myself in danger of getting cut but others. So they had to go.

In our lives we too have to get rid of the broken pieces. But how? Never by ourselves, the Lord is  there picking them up, piece by piece and getting rid of what could cause more harm than help. Always with His word, the only truth.  It's not an easy process, but it is necessary. It gets alot messier before you can tidy it up. It is covered with the blood of Jesus and He and only He can make beauty from the ashes...and He will. He surely will.  He always replaces what He removes. I have seen it more times than I could ever tell you about in my own life. God's unexpected surprises, answered prayers, favor and mercy on this side of brokenness, well it's more than enough for me. He is enough. He is the One who has brought me to and through healing and wholeness. It is Him and only Him that gets the Glory for taking a very shattered soul and breathing new life of power and promise and purpose! How exciting! He can do that for you too. It was in those places of brokenness that I relied most on Him and learned my true worth and value is found in Him. He binds up the brokenhearted. He never grows weary and He is the Prince of Peace.  Wherever you find yourself today, allow the brokenness to be shattered and fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,  leave the fixing to Him. Nothing is impossible with Him. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

P.S. My children will tell you that I usually say this when something falls from the cabinet and breaks "God is shattering things and that's a good thing." (guess I am a lil clumsy as it has happened quite a bit,smile)

Day 34/45 Forty-Five Verses....
"The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Blessings,
Suzanne