Shattered!

John 8:10-12

⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” ¹²When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

One day when I went out to my car parked on the street, I discovered someone had smashed two of the windows in my van with a baseball bat! It was a mess. Shattered glass was all over the street, and inside the car.

I meticulously vacuumed the glass from the car and took the vehicle to get two new windows installed. I was not a happy camper.

Let’s face it, life sometimes is not easy. We trip, we fall, we get hurt and end up sitting in a mess of our own brokenness. All of our hopes, dreams and aspirations for our wonderful life, lay in a pile of ‘shattered glass’. We don’t know which way to turn and just sit among the pieces and cry.

But God loves to mend broken pieces.

He comes to our rescue when we call His name. He picks up the piece and creates something new out of them.

In the 8th Chapter of John we read about the woman caught in adultery. Her entire life had come crashing down on her. She was now at the mercy of her accusers. She was knee deep in ‘shattered glass as she awaited sure death.

Some facts about shattered glass:

It goes everywhere.

It can cause cuts when it is picked up with bare hands.

It is difficult, even impossible, to glue back together.

Gluing it always leaves visible cracks.

But, broken glass can be turned into a work of beauty. I had my husband put all the broken glass shards that he cleaned up from the street into a box. Later that year I glued them onto several glass Christmas tree ornaments. We placed them on our tree, they were beautiful! They reflected the Christmas tree lights one hundred times more than just plain, smooth glass ornaments. Each new ornament reflected the colors of the base ornament in a very striking way.

I took something that was destroyed, and gave it an attractive new life. It was absolutely beautiful!

That’s exactly what God does with the broken pieces of our life. He takes the broken pieces we give him, and makes something beautiful out of it.

But, He doesn’t just leave the restored life plain…He puts light in it. His light illuminates all the colors of our gifts and talents and ignites them to show forth in brilliance! He makes us more visible and attractive to the world so others may see His handiwork in action.

What was once thought to be shattered and useless is now an attractive instrument useful to help bring people into God’s Kingdom.

Here’s my question today; Have you given God all the shattered glass in your life? Try it and see what a masterpiece He will make of it.