Delights

I wrote an email recently and said, "He shattered my brokenness." I was thinking about how bizarre that sounds. It almost doesn't make sense because it's meant to be a hopeful statement. The thought brings joy and gratefulness to my heart.

So I was thinking about that and what it might look like. I saw a chipped, cracked ceramic plate. It had a clear gloss coating on the outside that seemed to be holding together the brittle and cracking ceramic on the inside. I saw this strong hand coming and shattering the plate on the floor--tiny pieces. It was a huge mess all over the floor. It was shattered so powerfully that it became like dust. Then a strong wind came and blew the thick dust into a pile. And a rain came and poured down over the pile of dust that was once a plate. Through the rain, these strong hands came and started to work the water into the dry dust. Slowly it began to change. It started to form a ball and became pliable and maliable in those hands. I saw the man that the hands belonged to. He was a big man sitting at a bench in a workshop. He was surrounded by pottery--some colorful, some finished, some broken, some raw and waiting to be shaped. The man's hands were dirty from the water and clay but he didn't seem to mind. Quietly, meticulously he worked. His potter's wheel was spinning. He placed the lump of wet clay on the wheel and he began to shape it. He was so patient and careful it amazed me. But I noticed his face. It was so full of compassion and joy and love. This wasn't just work for him. It wasn't just a job. It was a passion that was coming out of everything that he was. I could see that the creator loved to create. When he looked at the clay in his hands, there was delight on his face. He was delighting in taking the broken and restoring it to beauty. He was delighting in forming beauty out of that which he had breathed life into.

He delights in me. I feel weary and painfully aware of my messiness and unfinishedness, but I know that my maker delights in me. I know that He is good. I know that he loves to show mercy and compassion to me. I know that he is near to the broken hearted. I know that he is near. There is no greater place that I would rather be than in the hands of my maker who delights in showing mercy to me.

This is the God I know. This is the God I serve. This is the God who loves me.

Posted with LifeCast