FROM SHATTERED TO SPECTACULAR

Jeremiah 18:1-4 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 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."

One day while thinking about this passage and praying I felt as if the Lord gave me a picture. I would use the word vision, but you might think I am crazy and sometimes people throw that term around too easily. It was if I was standing at the window of a pottery shop. It was the type of pottery shop you find in the tourist areas of Mexico where the cruise ships often stop. The shelves were filled with cups, plates , bowls and pots of all different colors. There were radiant yellows, beautiful blues, bright reds and gorgeous greens . I noticed on the floor of the shop there were thousands of broken pieces that lay everywhere. I wondered how the vessels had been broken. Had someone intentionally vandalized the store? Was there a person responsible for the brokenness? Perhaps a storm had blown through earlier, or an earthquake had caused the destruction. Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but think to myself that the pieces were just too broken. There was nothing that the potter could ever do to reshape the shards of broken pottery. Maybe somethings are just too shattered. I turned for just a moment away from the window saddened by the brokenness I saw. But as I turned my gaze back into the store I noticed a man picking up the pieces. He smiled as he examined each one closely. He lovingly picked up the colorful shards and began to place them in a large frame that sat on his work counter. A few pieces were still a little too large or misshapen, so the artist broke them again to make them fit His plan for the piece. I waited understanding that the work He was doing would take time. But the time I spent watching the transformation was the most rewarding moments I ever spent. As the last piece was placed and the work was complete, the artist looked at me and beckoned me in. My heart leapt inside me as I got close enough to see the finished product. Tears filled my eyes as I looked upon the most beautiful mosaic I had ever seen. No price could be placed on its value. The cups and plates that somehow had survived destruction were ordinary compared to this spectacular masterpiece.

Sometimes we feel like we are so shattered that we can never be whole again. Sometimes we feel as if we are lying on the floor of life ready to be swept up and discarded. Perhaps the hope of fulfilling the purpose for which we were created seems shattered as well. It is then that the Master picks up the pieces of our life and begins to make something beautiful. Our brokenness becomes a medium for the Lord to do his best work. No one wants to be broken. No soul wants to be shattered. But why settle for being a common cup or plate when God can make your life a masterpiece.