What beauty is in a broken plate? What is the use of it? If a plate cannot feed then it is simply not doing its job. The plate is a remnant of what it should be and surely is not beautiful. It is to be completely disposed of so the shards of glass cannot hurt anyone or anything. As human beings we have a natural tendency to throw away broken things. Broken things have no use. Isn’t that ironic, broken people throwing away broken things? When the vacuum stops working we don’t hesitate to throw it away. When people are in a season of pain and brokenness we abandon them, brokenness is not socially acceptable. The world says that it is not okay, to not be okay. So because of our insecurities we mask our pain. We fill the empty nothingness in our chest with bottomless joy, filling ourselves up and creating our own purpose. We are all broken plates trying to throw one another out of the kitchen. In the eyes of a fallen world a broken plate is ugly, useless, and considered to be trash.
God has been teaching me different things about how he views a broken plate. The Lord has told me that to be broken is to be beautiful. Allowing yourself to break in the arms of the Father is a divine moment in time. Because when you finally allow yourself to embrace brokenness, you also create space for God to move in your life. As I reflect back on my life, I see growth within the cracks of the plate. I see where on my knees, in tears, and in pain, the God of the universe met me. He met me when every part of my being was scattered into a million pieces. He was my strength when I saw no beauty and had only a glimpse of hope within my spirit. God loves broken things. He loves them because he’s not just a God that fixes, He is a God that makes new. Brokenness is a blessing. It is a time for you to draw near to God and him to you. Embracing brokenness is finding the value in the pain and taking advantage of the opportunity to grow. It means allowing God to pick up the pieces and recreate who you are, to make you whole.
In the last few weeks I have been working in an orphanage. I spend most of my time working with babies and toddlers. Before I started working in the orphanage, I felt numb to pretty much anything that should tear you apart. I had the ability to process in my mind the circumstances that these children are in, but was unable to feel for them. I simply could not connect my mind and my heart. I showed up to the orphanage with what I thought was a hard shell surrounding my heart. However, I quickly learned that my shell was fragile. God used the children to break right through my shell and rip out my heart. Sometimes it is challenging for me to understand why God does the things that He does. But if I could understand God completely, would he even be God? For his thoughts are much higher than our thoughts as are his ways.
We are all broken plates. God is breaking me and in my brokenness I see a carefully orchestrated plan slowly coming together. His most powerful testimonies rest within in a spirit that was once completely broken. God is teaching me that even for these kids there is an immense amount of hope in Him. I once was a white, mundane, broken plate that was shattered into a million pieces. My pieces were miles apart and many were lost. I was viewed as unfixable. But God viewed me as new. Since I started pursuing a relationship with the Lord he has put my pieces back together. I am no longer a plate that cannot be used for anything. I am plate made new by the son of God. I have intricate designs and colors. I am human, I am broken, and I am lovely because I am made whole through Jesus. Brokenness is a time to learn, to lean on God, and to grow in relationship with him. People that have a great amount of impact in this world has also experienced a great amount of pain. God loves broken people, God uses broken plates.
