My Life as a COMMA!

Do you ever feel like you are just broken? Like the cracks in your life are just too much to mend? I totally get it!

But let me share with you something….

You see….

What I’ve come to realize is that it is through the cracks…..God’s light shines the brightest! You heard me right….I think God’s light shines brightest through the cracks of our hardest times….when we allow others to see us in our true beauty. Cracks and ALL!! This is where He shines.

Think about it for a minute.

Go ahead, close your eyes..no wait…you can’t read with your eyes closed! Okay….just read and imagine what I’m saying!

Take a large vase that is pretty thick skinned….and solid. Brand new! NO CRACKS! Can you picture it? It is dark blue! (Why? I don’t know…I just like blue!) This is the vase you’ve been searching for. There are 2 of these vases on the shelf. You see this one and as you pick it up and turn it around…you see a large crack going right up the side of it! This is NOT what you wanted….not what you pictured! This just won’t do! I mean, I’m not getting THIS vase! And if I did….I CERTAINLY wouldn’t pay full price for it! I mean……it’s DAMAGED!

Are you with me? Can you imagine yourself with this vase? Ok…let’s keep going.

Behind the vase is another one just like it….so you pick it up. It’s PERFECT! No cracks at all! This is what you wanted. This is better. I mean, I didn’t come all this way for something with a CRACK! That is imperfect! I ONLY want perfect things around me!

So….are you following me? Well…let’s keep going.

This vase…this perfect one is the one I’m going to get. I take it home….but this vase isn’t one for flowers. I’m making a lamp out of this one. But as I assemble the pieces….I take the light bulb and place it into the vase…. Yup! Perfection! It fits exactly the way I knew it would. So I continue….this is going to be beautiful and just what I wanted. I continue and get the cord and fitting into the small hole I’ve made in the bottom (with no cracks, I might add) and so it is in place. I screw in the light bulb….and here we go!

I flip the switch….and….the light bulb lights up….but I can’t really see it. There is no light shining through. The beautifully perfect, thick skinned vase…just won’t allow the light to go through it. (Are you still with me? Did your light bulb go off too??)

But…If I had gotten the cracked one…that crack…..that imperfection….would have “perfectly” let the light shine through.

Ok…you see…sometimes we want the perfect. But in God’s plan…our perfection…isn’t always the same as HIS! And His is the best kind of perfection. What we “perceive” as perfect….isn’t always REAL! Like “Fakebook” and “Instaglam”….we see what others want us to see! We see filtered…not real. We see their highlights and don’t get all the behind the scenes yuck! But, this is what we begin to strive for….what we think we are supposed to look like.

What I love seeing is the real….the raw….the messy and the imperfect. Because this is where we see God. When others are real….we don’t feel so much like an island. We don’t feel like we are the only one with this flaw….or the only one going through something tough.

But even better….when we allow God to heal our “cracks”….or where we try to see God in the midst of our cracks…..He shines through those places and OTHERS see Him……so much more vividly. Because they see we aren’t “perfect Christians” who don’t NEED our God. They see us struggling, but they see us seeking Him, what He wants us to learn in this situation….or maybe the fact that we get mad, get frustrated and cry out to Him….. They see us being REAL with Him. And….when they see us in these situations…..yet still loving and trusting Him….they want MORE of HIM who gives us peace.

I see this in the lives of so many I get to call friend. They are suffering, yet they seek Him…and are so public about it! It AMAZES ME! I’m in awe of how real, how raw they are….and how in the midst of their sorrows, they are CONSTANTLY pointing others to Jesus! This my friend….is how we are reaching the world. Not by portraying perfection…but instead, by showing others our cracks and imperfections….our sorrows and our weaknesses!

Let’s go back to that vase for a minute……I was preparing years ago to speak to a group and the theme was taking broken things and making them beautiful. In my praying and researching, I found the art of Kintsukuroi. This is where a broken piece of pottery is mended…using fine metals like silver and gold. The cracks are very visible. And yet, now, this piece of pottery is MORE VALUABLE as a broken piece than the original, perfect piece would be!

This is how God sees us! We are valuable to Him….we are chosen and mended by Him! We are worth more than gold and rubies and pearls! He sees our imperfections and wants to heal them. Then….each one is a reminder of a time when He carried us through…a scar to remind us how He has a plan for us…not to harm us…but to prosper us! Each scar is a crack He has mended and when we share with others how He walked us through…we lead others to HIM!

This my friends….is part of what I talk about when I talk about my two worlds colliding!

Do I wish I had my boys here with me today! You bet! But would I have the family, the faith, the testimony with that changed situation? I don’t know. I would love to say “YES!”….but the truth is…I just don’t know.

Do I love living my life now with the people I have surrounding me? Of course! But do I miss the “What would’ve been/what could’ve been” with the people from my life before? Yes….I truly do.

Life is hard. Life is messy. So, let’s be real…. We ALL struggle. Sometimes….more than others. Some people…more than others. But none of us, not one, is perfect. Only Jesus. I’m learning the more I know about myself, the more I need HIM!

I want life. Yes…I’d love a less messy, less tragic, easy-button life. But, that isn’t what He wrote out for my life. To be real and honest…it ins’t what He wrote out for any of us!

What He did write…is HOPE. Hope in Him…Hope in being real….Hope in others who have cracks…loving us through our own….Hope in knowing our eternity isn’t messy…isn’t painful…isn’t imperfect! I choose HOPE! I choose JOY! I choose messy now….with mended parts… so that I can reunited with those I miss….be healed of every heartache and pain…and get to see Him…the one who carried me through it ALL…face to face…for eternity!

This, my friends…is what I want for all of you!

Many prayers…much love….and totally cracked! ~c