Picking up the Pieces

Not many years go by in most homes without something getting broken or going missing.  If it's only a minor component of a greater whole - perhaps a chipped cup or a missing jig-saw piece - we might decide to work around the gap or live with the incompleteness.  If it's something more fundamental like a broken chair-leg, chances are that it will find its way to the nearest tip.

But is this the only solution?  Might there be someone else out there who would either be willing to use that item, knowing that it's not perfect, or have the resources and skill to mend it?  If we don't want to live with a 'five-and-a-bit-place' dinner service, might there be someone else out there who has the same design with a couple of items missing, for which your reject could provide the perfect remedy?

Even if only because it's good for the planet, it's always worth asking how something we no longer want to keep might be redirected into a new lease of life, rather than binned.  And the same concept applies to human lives, too.  Whatever challenge we face, whether trivial or life-threatening, God is always ready to help if we call upon Him.  Psalm 46:1 describes Him as 'an ever-present help in trouble'.

The prophet Isaiah put it rather nicely, in words that prompted this article in the first place, "a bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out." (Isaiah 42:3).  The idea of brokenness also called to mind a worship song by Graham Kendrick; you can find the words of 'God of the Poor' here.  There are phrases in that song that express many people's thoughts and fears about modern life.  'Bread for the children' is but one example.  Surely it's a truly broken world when one of its richest nations allows schoolchildren to have free meals at school, but in the holidays their parents can only feed them by incurring debts in some other aspect of 'normal' life!

At the weekend, I listened via the internet to a service from Gateway Church in Abergavenny.  In his final prayer their pastor, Chris Babb, used these words, "[God] is able to bring hope even in the most hopeless of situations, light in the darkest of hours, and take all the broken pieces of our lives and turn them into a beautiful masterpiece for His glory."

Back to the mundane ... next time you discover a missing or broken part in your home, or encounter a potentially devastating problem in your life, remember that ever-present Help in trouble, and ask yourself, 'What could be done with what's left?'