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| John Mark and Becca Gary |
Oftentimes, God has used children to teach and inspire me. This
time He used Becca Gary. Becca, now 11 years old, was adopted as an infant a
few months after her brother, John Mark, was adopted. She and John Mark were
constantly together. Becca had never been separated from John Mark until his
death last year. To help her through the grieving process, Becca was able to
attend a weekend camp designed for grieving children. While she was there, she
participated in activities designed to provide coping skills for dealing with
the loss of her brother.
Becca’s mother, Rita, shared with me that Becca did many
things while at camp: smashed pumpkins to relieve her anger; wrote John Mark a
love letter and released it toward heaven; planted forget-me-not flowers in a
clay pot. Rita said that the pot was broken and pieced back together. Puzzled,
she asked Becca what had happened. Becca replied, “Mama, this pot is me. I’ve
been broken since John Mark left me, but God is busy putting me back together.”
Since hearing this I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tossed
Becca’s words over in my mind. Oddly, it made me think of the reoccurring theme
we’ve seen through our study of Isaiah. God has been and continues to be “busy
putting all of humanity, all ages, from age to age, back together”. The focus
is not the brokenness, but rather the fact that God’s love for all of us can be
seen through the brokenness. God’s main concern is to love and restore all that
is broken. He does this through His Son, Jesus, the Promised Messiah, Immanuel,
Our Lord and Savior.
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| Clay Pot |
We
all begin like this. Everyone is born into a world flawed by sin. We look whole but we actually have a few
fragile hairline cracks with the potential of larger breaks.
Eventually
our lives are affected by circumstances that
are directly a result of sin, some
from our own sinfulness, and some from the extended effects of others who have
sinned. The result is the same, brokenness brought on by living in a broken
world.
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The pieces of a
broken life.
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All
the while God is busy putting us back together. He is the glue. You can be sure
that with every crisis, there is The Cross.
Jesus is making Himself available. He beckons for those who are broken
and hurting to receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior. Some hear and
respond. Some hear and refuse. Some don’t hear Him at all and remain like this
pot: broken, cracked, and dark.
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The glue of God's love
holds us together and His love
shines through the cracks.
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Those
who do chose to respond to his invitation look like this pot. The cracks remain
but the Light of Jesus shines inside and out through the cracks. There is beauty
found in the brokenness. The beauty is the love of God found in the restoration
of a cracked, but not destroyed life. The focus moves from the cracks to His
Light and Love.
This was His plan from the beginning. He desires that His
Light be in us and that His light in us will show a broken world that He is
seriously in love with us. So in love, in fact, that just as Becca has learned,
“He is quite busy putting them back together.” Mostly, He wants to have the Light
of His Son shine through our cracks so that others may know His love, too.
Sharon Lorber
Originally presented to the Leadership Counsel
CBS-Rutherfordton Day Class
12/02/2015
