Broken Beauty: Mended

The potter ran his hands over the clay. He loved to play with it, forming it, shaping it, but mainly he liked to feel it pliable in his hands, pushing it, squooshing it, and reshaping it. He liked the work of creating and deciding what each piece would be. He worked carefully so as not to dry out the clay in his hands as he shaped each one. The pottery he created was special and unique and people came to see it, not because it was beautiful and perfectly formed, but because he had a special technique to his way of creating each work of art. He didn’t much care for the drying process. It was not nearly as fun as the shaping process. But after he shaped, there was drying, the baking and purifying, and then painting. He liked the painting, but still it was not his favorite part of creating.

He handmade each piece. He placed each one in the kiln to set up, and then he painted each one. The unusual part came next. Instead of taking the piece to market to sell, he always took the piece, no matter what it had been purposed for, outside to the hard cement sidewalk and raised it high above his head, and watched it fall to the ground to shatter in many pieces. He collected each pieces and then began the arduously work of gluing each piece back together. He called his artwork broken beauty, and he each one was part of his prized collection of work. Sometimes, he sold his pieces, and sometimes he kept them and used them, but each one was a valued treasure to him.

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Broken Beauty: Mended

In the first chapter of “Mended” by Angie Smith, she talks about how the Lord led her to take a pitcher and break it and then glue it back together. I don’t regularly read her blog and when I picked up her book, I didn’t realize that it was a collection of her blog posts. So this may be old news if you are a regular reader of hers. After I read that chapter though, I felt led to get my own piece of pottery to break and put back together. I picked out a vase that I liked because I hoped to display it later on. First, I took pictures of it whole. Then, I placed it back in the bag it came in, took it outside, glanced around to see if any neighbors where outside and watching,  waited until all was partially clear and I wouldn’t be considered too crazy, and then smashed it. When I picked up the bag, I could tell that one side seemed almost intact, so I hesitantly lifted the bag, looked around again, and then after considering it for several minutes proceeded to break it again.

I decided to take my time gluing it back together and asking the Lord to speak to me and show me how He wanted to mend me. I wanted to know why He had wanted me to break my own pottery piece. The process was enlightening and I highly recommend that you also try it, and ask God to speak to you while you do so.

When I was in the darkest reaches of my brokenness, I learned that I could not trust people not to fail me. I know that sounds simple, but before that time, I trusted people, I believed in them. As I was working on piecing my vase back together, the Lord showed me that yes, He was the only one I could always count on, but He wants to heal the part of me that believes people would always fail me. I had not realized how it affects how I approach or relate to others. I guess knowing is half of the battle, right? 😉

I learned many lessons from the process, but the biggest take away I think the Lord whispered to me was the twice breaking. We are born broken in need of a healer, and still there are times in our lives when the Lord will wound us in order to heal us. We may think that to suffer along with Christ we need to be persecuted, but perhaps in America, more than persecution, we suffer from our need of Him. Moreover, if God allowed His son, who is most precious to Him to be wounded for my sake, will not I allow myself to be wounded for His sake? to be changed and remade by Him?

I do not look forward to being remade or broken again, but I trust the hands who’ve made me even more after my brokenness. This vase that I broke and put back together again is so valuable to me – I can only imagine how much more valuable I am to Him now.

Broken once, one side

Broken twice, second side

I plan to write more posts from mended, but it is not a book intended to be rushed through as healing is usually a process rather than instantaneous, so my posts will be much the same.

I promised to giveaway the book, so you can enter for the book today. Also come back as this week, I will be giving away some more of my favorite things: a necklace, more books, and hopefully some ornaments!

Also, I’ve not forgotten about the home tour, but I failed to consider the holidays, so I will postpone that until after the new year.

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