Broken But Not Tossed

Sociologist Brene Brown, commenting on vulnerability in a TED talk said, "We are 'those people.'...we are the others.  Most of us are one paycheck, one divorce, one drug-addicted kid, one mental health diagnosis, one serious illness, one sexual assault, one drinking binge, one night of unprotected sex, or one affair away from being 'those people' - the ones we don't trust, the ones we pity...the ones bad things happen to...."

We are those people.  We are the broken ones.  Or the ones about to be broken.  Or, or just maybe, we are the ones who are about to be mended.  The ones who have accepted the fact of their brokenness, refuse to hide or deny it and turn to the One Source where wholeness can be found - Christ alone!

God is not surprised by our brokenness, he foresaw the unfortunate path mankind would take and set in motion a plan of redemption, a way of reclaiming and restoring.  Like a potter with a flawed or broken piece of pottery, who chooses to reshape his creation instead of tossing it to the side, God stands ready to reshape and restore instead of reject.  Listen to the words of Jeremiah the prophet:

"I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?' declares the Lord. 'Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand'" (18:3-6).

You are broken, I am broken - maybe not as broken as the guy or gal next door, maybe not as broken as we were at one time, maybe not as broken as we're going to be but we are broken.  We don't need to hide it or deny it, we need embrace it and own up to it - not to accept its reign but to allow our restoration.  Almighty God is the Potter who does not desire to toss away the marred clay but wants to make it new.

Unlike the clay, however, we have a choice: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28).  He calls to us in our brokenness, extending the free offer to reshape and restore us, allowing us to rest or be removed from the burden of our brokenness.  But we choose.  You choose.  What is your choice?  Jus' Ask'n.