It has been an unprecedented couple of weeks living with an ongoing pandemic. The impact has been evident not just in our country, but in countries all over the world. And even looking ahead, there seems to be no end in sight just yet. The effects of this pandemic have broken economies, businesses and even spirits. Stories of how broken people have become is everywhere! You’re more likely to find a rant or post about how people have been broken by this situation than to find a can of Lysol Disinfectant spray at your local supermarket.
But- if you set your eyes on the right perspective, you’ll be able to see that the state of being broken is not the end, but simply a phase in an on-going process. This perception is set by Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians :
“23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NKJV)
Adopting this view, allows us to see that God will continue to make us whole no matter how broken we are. And this goes for our nation as well. Our state of being broken gives us the opportunity for us to give the pieces to The Lord and this opens a door for God to make us stronger once we are pieced back together.
An illustration of this would be the Japanese art called Kintsugi. This involves a potter crafting a bowl or plate from ceramic material. The artist spends a significant amount of time crafting this once piece of pottery, making sure that it is shaped into what can be perceived as “perfection”. And after investing much time and effort in creating this piece, the artist would intentionally break it. You read correctly, he would either take a blunt object and smash his work, or he would drop it from a considerable distance.
He then would collect all of the pieces and put them back together. Now when he does this, he doesn’t use ordinary glue or paste. What he would use is Gold. He fills in molten gold to hold the pieces together. When the whole thing dries up, the piece of pottery is now more beautiful and more valuable than it was before it was broken.
God allows situations like these for us to be broken and we must trust Him to make us whole, to make us stronger and to make us more valuable than we were before. The kicker here is our faith to give him all of the pieces.
And again, the reality of this situation is very real but the things that our God can do is very real as well.
Our state of being broken is an opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and an avenue for Him to make us stronger. He just needs us to give Him all of the pieces.
