"Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was,
making something on the wheel.
But the vessel that he was making of clay
was spoiled in the hand of the potter;
so he remade it into another vessel,
as it pleased the potter to make."
Jeremiah 18:3-4
The word "Broken" is defined as "having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order" and "having given up hope; despairing". Interestingly enough the word "damaged" means "an injury or harm that reduces value or usefulness".
These words can seem harsh when referring to something or someone close to us, especially if it refers to us. No one ever aspires to be broken or damaged. No one ever hopes to feel hopeless. I have never met a person who has begged and pleaded for someone to break them or cause harm in any way to their well being, their spirit, mind or heart. We actually run from those situations, or at least we try to. We desire to look like we are all in one piece all of the time. Our lives are perfect and there is never a single hair out of place. Our appearance has to be spot on and if it is not, we sit and stress over every second that portrays us as who we are not, or at least we pretend to not be. The story is all to real for every one of us whether we want to admit it or not. Life weighs heavy on us and we walk as though the weight can be sustained until we are alone in our room and everything falls apart.
To be broken is the worst feeling we never want to experience and yet if we don't we can never really know the value of our life.
You see...I completely disagree with how the world defines brokenness. I was broken once, actually I found myself in this position many times in my life. Broken in so many ways, in so many pieces. But even though I was broken I had to choose to get up and continue to be in "working order". I had to gather together all the hope I could even when those surrounding me saw me as hopeless. You will only be what you allow the world to speak into your life. Or you can choose to NOT allow the world to speak to you what you know is not true. The word "broken" indicates that that which is broken must somehow be damaged or not of the same value. Funny thing though..."value" is defined as "one's judgement of what is important in life". Who's judgement? Someone. Anyone. So who determines your value? No one but you! There will always be judgement. Everyday someone will pass judgement on the small things we may do that do not meet their standards. Its just in human nature. We will never be good enough in the eyes of those around us. But should that matter?
The word of God says that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made..." Psalm 139:14
I have always wanted to learn how to throw pottery on a wheel. I remember in college watching a classmate shape some of the most beautiful pieces on the potters wheel. I was amazed at how easy the process looked and yet every time I sat down to attempt such a creation as my classmate, the clay would go sliding out of my hands until it flew off the metal plate. So embarrassing. I gave up. No matter how much encouragement I received it just wasn't going to happen. I chose to hand build my pieces from that point on and to my amazement I found out that the classmate who threw such beautiful pieces just couldn't do the same with hand building the clay. I didn't understand. We both had different skills that produced the same things, just a different technique. Each piece was unique and not every piece would make it. Sometimes the shape would get thrown off and we would smash the clay and start all over. Other times what we thought was complete, would end up exploding in the firing process because we had overlooked air pockets in the clay that were not smoothed out properly. So it was back to square one. One day I went out to the buckets where we would throw away our broken pieces. One of the buckets was filled with water. When I asked why, our teacher explained to us that all this time we had been building with recycled clay. That "broken" piece of pottery, although thrown out, still had a purpose. It was still useful and carried so much value every moment that I began a new piece.
When we are "broken" the world will always see a damaged, useless, hopeless being. But God still sees the greater purpose that is within. We are broken so that we can be rebuilt for a greater thing. We are broken so we can be useful to someone else. We are broken so we can join to others who have been broken for the purpose of encouraging one another and reminding them that they are still valuable, useful and so full of purpose. Brokenness is not a state of hopelessness but a position of PURPOSE. It is an opportunity to see ourselves as how the potter saw us...a work in progress. We are always being shaped into a masterpiece. When you're broken, you are going through the process that will build you stronger than the time before.
I have one more story before I go. I have a sweet student I teach art to on the weekends. First of all, I love the perspective that kids have on life. They see things that we can often times no longer see. There was one particular Saturday that we were working with pastel chalks. As he began to work on his drawing he grabbed one of the newer pieces and as he was starting to use it, it snapped in half. He looked up at me with big eyes and said "I'm sorry Miss Jennifer". It was no big deal to me. I had broken so many pieces before and even though the box of chalks contained more than half of the sticks broken, this still worried him enough to apologize. It was at that moment that God taught me something new through this sweet little guy. The words that I spoke to him would echo in my heart for the next several weeks. Thats how long I've been putting off writing this...lol. I looked at him and said, "it's ok...sometimes we have to break the chalk to get it to just the right size for the thing you are working on." He just smiled and said, "you mean I can break the chalk?" My response..."of course you can". What an amazing lesson learned. Those chalks could not fulfill their true potential and purpose until they were broken. Broken to just the right shape and size for the job. His masterpiece that day came out of broken chalk, not perfectly straight or brand new, but used. And even though that chalk was "broken", it certainly was not "damaged'. It didn't lose it's value. In fact, it became more valuable in that moment. And let me tell you...that chalk has never become useless in any way.
So many people walk day in and day out broken by so many circumstances and struggles in their life and many on the outside walk past just kicking them down further. If only we could see the greater purpose in that broken piece of clay and approach with the intention of rebuilding and refreshing that beautiful masterpiece that is still in progress. No one is perfect but everyone of us is precious. Looking back at the scripture at the beginning of this post it says,
"But the vessel that he was making of clay
was spoiled in the hand of the potter;
so he remade it into another vessel,
as it pleased the potter to make."
The potter "remade" it into another vessel. The clay was not thrown out but remade. And the potter was pleased to make it. He was not frustrated or angry. He didn't complain about it or see the vessel as a burden. He was pleased to make it. This is how God sees us. He is pleased to reshape and mold us into our purpose...day after day. He loves us so much more than we know.
I hope this encourages you as it does me everyday of my life. Be blessed and encouraged and know that I love you and am praying for you all the time.
