May 16th, 2022
Today’s devotion comes to use from Leigh McLeroy (http://leighmcleroy.com/).
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Lately I've been confronted with broken things. A broken gate. A broken window. A broken plate that fell from the top shelf of a wobbly bookcase. And just this week, a 15 foot limb that broke away from my neighbor's tree one night and landed with a loud crash not two feet from my front steps. (When I heard the sound I thought a car had veered off the street and crashed into my yard. I was relieved to see it was only a branch--and thankful no one had been nearby when it fell.)
The gate and window were quickly repaired. The plate broke into several smallish pieces, so I've not yet glued it back together. The branch I drug over to the side of the yard between our two houses, and my neighbor kindly sawed it into kindling and stacked it away. But I can't quite escape the feeling that I'm in the vortex of some invisible wind that is swirling wildly around me. And breaking things apart..
"Things fall apart," Irish poet Yeats wrote, "the centre cannot hold." But I challenge his conclusion. I believe it can, and does. The center holds because The Beautiful Son is at the center, holding all things together: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17, NASB)
Circumstances at the edges are perilous, yes. Things are broken. They crash and fall and shatter. But the center is strong. The center holds. Or better, it is held.
The challenge is to celebrate the mending, not mourn the pieces. To be thankful for the repairs, and not lament (at least not for long) the breaking. The challenge is to believe--even before things are put right--that rightness is near and possible...that it will come. Broken things will be mended: one day even our own hearts' cracks and fault lines will be finally fixed, and stronger for it.
Because my God loves broken things. Even me.
- Leigh McLeroy
_________________________
Lately I've been confronted with broken things. A broken gate. A broken window. A broken plate that fell from the top shelf of a wobbly bookcase. And just this week, a 15 foot limb that broke away from my neighbor's tree one night and landed with a loud crash not two feet from my front steps. (When I heard the sound I thought a car had veered off the street and crashed into my yard. I was relieved to see it was only a branch--and thankful no one had been nearby when it fell.)
The gate and window were quickly repaired. The plate broke into several smallish pieces, so I've not yet glued it back together. The branch I drug over to the side of the yard between our two houses, and my neighbor kindly sawed it into kindling and stacked it away. But I can't quite escape the feeling that I'm in the vortex of some invisible wind that is swirling wildly around me. And breaking things apart..
"Things fall apart," Irish poet Yeats wrote, "the centre cannot hold." But I challenge his conclusion. I believe it can, and does. The center holds because The Beautiful Son is at the center, holding all things together: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17, NASB)
Circumstances at the edges are perilous, yes. Things are broken. They crash and fall and shatter. But the center is strong. The center holds. Or better, it is held.
The challenge is to celebrate the mending, not mourn the pieces. To be thankful for the repairs, and not lament (at least not for long) the breaking. The challenge is to believe--even before things are put right--that rightness is near and possible...that it will come. Broken things will be mended: one day even our own hearts' cracks and fault lines will be finally fixed, and stronger for it.
Because my God loves broken things. Even me.
- Leigh McLeroy
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