Friday, April 13, 2012

Peace in the Pieces!

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  Psalm 147

Perhaps there is something in "Friday the 13th!" But today is Saturday the 14th, and surely my post will work today!

While most of the elephants in my collection are just “objets d’art”, some of them have actual functions.  The doorstop I commented on a couple of weeks ago is one example.  But I also have teapots, a cookie jar, mugs, an oven mitt, a planter and a kite among others.  Two of my elephants act as toothpick holders! 

If you look very carefully at the photo of the one on the right, you will notice cracks – yes, this elephant has been broken! Though broken, it was saved.  With a lot of my husband’s patience, and a little bit of superglue, the fragments were pieced together once again to make it whole; not perfect, but whole.

What a great metaphor for how God works with our brokenness.  Just as the pieces of my elephant were put back together – God does the same with us…daily!  My elephant toothpick holder can still hold toothpicks but it bears the “scars” of its mishap.  It is no longer perfect; but one could say it wasn’t perfect to begin with or it would never have broken!  Whatever! Certainly each of us was born imperfect, but God’s vision for each of perfection. And we break…daily.  And faithfully, if we submit, God pieces each of together, time after time. We bear the imperfections of our cracks sometimes gracefully, mostly not.  I guess that’s the point of repentance.  God continues to bring wholeness in our lives.  Perfection? No, perfection is the attribute of only Christ.  But we can look forward to the perfection promised us in eternity.

In the meantime, we face each day, broken yet whole in Christ, the “glue” that holds us together in spite of the cracks!













2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deb's husband did a much better job on restoring the elephant than he does on restoring himself.
signed, older husband

Karen said...

I see anonymous is back...but my question is where did he find those elephants ???? I wonder if they came to the birthday party for our 1 year old elephant in our zoo?
BTW..I don't think older husband needs to be restored. He is fine just the way he is! I am sure Deb agrees! :-)