Especially the Broken Pieces

Our family had some special time this past weekend at the beach together.  It was a lot of fun, and on the third day we decided to hunt for seashells.  I took our youngest and went one direction down the beach, my husband took our older two.

It was so neat to watch our four year old discover shells in the sand!  Everything he found was precious to him.  Each shell, was greeted with such pleasure.  "OH! Look Mommy, here is another one!!"  His excitement was contagious, and his innocence was refreshing.

I found a few, really nice 'complete' shells that I rinsed off in the waves and kept.  All the while my sweet Eli was handing me shells.  Some where really pretty while others were not.  They were broken pieces, fragments.  The first few pieces he handed me, I held onto for a moment, and then tossed back in the sea.  About the fourth piece he gave me I said, "You know Eli we are looking for the really nice ones...."  Thank God he interrupted me, he said, "Mommy they are all so nice."  

I thought to myself, yeah you know what...good thing I didn't get to finish that sentence.  Here I am wanting only the nice shells, the pretty ones with no cracks, or chips.  Whole and complete.  I'm tossing aside the pieces as if they are unworthy.  To be honest, I was wanting to have some cute shells to make a project for my home.  Do I really want cracked, chipped pieces of unidentifiable shells?

Well..yes..yes I do.  And why you might ask?  Because as I was talking to Eli, the Lord graciously whispered to my heart, 'don't teach him to disregard the pieces dear child..."  So, yes I've got pieces and fragments because I need that reminder.

We're like those shells, without the Lord we are in a million unidentifiable pieces.  A mess, unworthy for display.  Yet, when the Lord gets ahold of our hearts, His mercy and His restoration cause His grace to spring up within us and He radiates to others (at least that is my prayer)...that people would see that I am far from perfect, but there is a difference, in how I love my husband, how I love my family, how I serve in our community.  Whatever the difference they notice, I pray it stirs people towards my Savior.

I didn't want to teach my son to toss aside broken pieces of something the Lord has made.  After all, He made those shells and even they matter to Him.  Just as, God made each one of us, and no matter the mess we may be or the pile of pieces we feel we are, we are all important to Him.  So important He sent Christ to die on the cross for us.   I think that we can not fathom the depths of the love of God.  I just don't think we can grasp that this side of heaven.  Without the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are a mess...searching far and near for meaning and purpose.  Trying to be 'complete' all the while the Lord beckons.  Our hearts were created to need Him, we need Him whether we want to admit it or not.  He completes us.  He takes the pieces and molds them together, they don't all match, some are in worse shape than others, yet when He gets them all together it's a Master's craft project!  In His eyes, we are made into a beautiful new creation that cost Him His Son.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" Romans 5:6