A to Z Answers: Best Broken

Can being broken be a good thing?

I just tossed a pair of cracked eyeglasses. They’re simply no good to me anymore. After all, they’re broken.

We throw away broken toys. We sweep up shattered glass. We demolish damaged vehicles. Sometimes we sever smashed relationships.  

With all the clutter we carry in our lives, why would we hang onto smashed or splintered stuff?

But broken isn’t always bad.

Maybe you know the feeling of being broken, like an old clay flowerpot, cast upon the hard ground.

I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

(Psalm 31:12, NIV)

Being totaled hurts, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re trashed.

Christian pastor and evangelist Vance Havner (1901-1986) said this about brokenness:

God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.

Thank God!

Maybe it’s time to call the Carpenter to fix what is broken. Perhaps the Potter can remold our mangled masses.

The Creator loves to rebuild those He has made. That’s His specialty, picking up broken pieces transforming them into something far better than anyone ever thought they could be.

Brokenness makes us available for God’s help. When we are feeling annihilated, we realize we need Him the most.

I am broken, but won’t always be.

What a promise!

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

(Psalm 34:18, ESV)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

(Psalm 51:17, ESV)

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
   and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
   instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
   instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   a planting of the LORD
   for the display of His splendor.

(Isaiah 61:1-3, NIV)

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Will you join us for the A to Z Blogging Challenge?

You can sign up online to join the A to Z Blogging Challenge for 2012. Be sure to check out the Facebook page too. If you do sign up, you will want to add the A to Z Blogging Challenge graphic and link to your blog.

This year, I’ve signed up to do six blogs for the A to Z Blogging Challenge:

• Heart of a Ready Writer
• Meme Express: Blog Prompts
• Nickers and Ink: Poetry and Humor
• Practically at Home
• The Mane Point: A Haven for Horse Lovers
• Working in Words

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Image/s:

Public Domain

Eyeglasses by Thor Erik M. Hanson

Public Domain/Wikipedia Commons Photos

Broken - Prayer of Millions

US Food Administration photo

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2012 logo

Fair Use

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