It was such a long time ago, I don’t know why the memory came back to me. I had never been one for crystal, but this piece meant so much to me. A crystal heart. It could have very much been my very own heart. And there it lay, shattered.
Picking up the pieces that remained, oh-so-carefully, one-by-one, somehow I still managed to cut my finger. Yet, the cut on my finger didn’t quite compare to damage done to the shattered pieces of the heart that lay irreparable in my hands.
It wasn’t intentional. I told myself then and remind myself now.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted…” Psalms 34:18 NIV
I can only imagine God, as a Potter – our Master Potter, we, His pots of clay… When our hearts become become broken – shattered, if you will, it’s not just that He is close to them, but He holds each and every piece. Even the tiniest of shards that we only find once they are stuck in our foot weeks later, reigniting the pain and inciting a completely different feeling of hurt. Yeah, He holds those pieces too. Even the fine dust of a shattering, somehow He’s able to gather even that up. Not one spec of our hearts go to waste. None of our pain is ever in vain.
This is a lesson I have had to learn again and again.
You see, my crystal heart was a lost cause. I could not piece it back together. Nor was I able to replace it. But this heart of mine, once I realized the true value… Sometimes we don’t know how truly valuable our hearts are, and we give it away to him/her or this/that. In return what we get back is a heart full or scars, cracks – a heart that at the least is broken if not shattered.
But God… He takes our hearts. All the pieces. Leaving nothing to spare. And pieces them back together with love, compassion, gentleness and grace. Because, He’s close to our broken hearts. And His work is perfect ♥️
On the Outside Looking In 