Brokenness isn't Ugly

I just recently learned about "end of day" glass from an alumni of our Gateway to Freedom workshop. He shared how in studios that work with hand blown glass there is quite a mess made during the production process. Shards of glass of all different colors and shapes are strewn all across the floor. But rather than simply sweep up the glass and toss it in the garbage, the glass artist gathers all the pieces together, melts them back down, and blows them into a vessel of unmatched color and patterns.

I think "end of day" glass is a beautiful analogy to what God does with sexually broken people. Their lives have been shattered into pieces, strewn across the floor. Then they see God coming toward them with a broom and a sudden wave of panic crashes over their soul. Is this it? Is this when God's grace finally runs out for me? What's going to happen? Scrambling around, trying to gather up all their broken pieces, they hope to produce something that they think is acceptable to God. But this only leaves them with bloody hands and more brokenness.

Then it happens.

God gently sweeps together all the brokenness; the shame, the fear, the wounds, the lies, the sin, the anger, all of it. He lifts this broken, helpless child of His and places him in the kiln -- then turns up the heat!

Wait a minute! That's not where I was expecting this story to go. Can't we jump forward to the beauty and color and unique patterns? Not without the fire.

Recovery is God's kiln. Trials are God's kiln. Suffering for the name of Christ is God's kiln. While we are all "end of day" glass, we cannot take the beautiful form of a vessel bursting with color and vibrant patterns without first being melted down into a malleable form. This requires heat. In the case of glass, it requires at least 2000 degrees! For us, it requires the crucible of God.

Once "melted," God takes this liquid life and pours it out into a vessel of His making. The shape, size, and purpose is of His determining. He is careful, precise, with the picture of ultimate perfection in His mind's eye. When finished with His masterpiece He gazes in admiration; the beauty is stunning and utterly unique to all the other vessels He has made. Now, what was once merely the chaotic mess of brokenness is now the glory of the Master Artist. He makes all things beautiful.

Are you a broken mess? Do you feel ashamed, unworthy, purposeless? Don't run from the broom of the Lord. He is not coming to punish you, but rather to make you into an "end of day" masterpiece that sparkles and shines, proclaiming the grace and majesty of the Artist. Although the kiln is hot, the work of the Artist is Love. May you know His love and embrace His grace; because to Him, you are worth saving...

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