broken offering

"So take this broken offering and make it whole."

This is a line from a new Caedmon's Call song. I was singing along with it in the car today. It got me thinking about brokenness. What is it to be broken? And what is it to be put back together? My first thought moves toward an expensive vase that is thrown to the ground. Is that what God does to break us? Then does He rebuild us into another vase with spiritual super glue? I don't think this is a good picture of brokenness though we may feel this way sometimes.

There is some sort of creative process in the breaking. When we break things, it is rarely creative...usually it is destructive. But we do have some examples of "breaking" as a means of creation. I remember back to the days of high school soccer. If you needed an instant ice pack, the trainers would pull out this plastic bag filled with various chemicals. If you didn't disturb the bag, it remained room temperature. But if you broke the solid material inside, and if you pounded on the bag a little, then it soon became ice cold. Instant heat packs work the same way.

Another example of "breaking" as an act of creation is the always fun glow stick. I remember those fun middle school dances and outdoor concerts where glow sticks were all the rage. You have to snap the glow stick in half in order for the glowing to begin. Maybe this is more what we are like in the hands of God.

Maybe when we are broken before God, there is something being created. Maybe from the brokenness comes heat and light. I am even now reminded that even if we don't measure up to a heat pack or a glow stick....even if we are fragile vases which are dashed against the rocks....even then God can be creative.

I can see God picking up each splinter,...each shattered piece of pottery which once formed a beautiful vase. I can see him gather each piece by hand, one at a time. But He isn't remaking the same vase with some mystical super glue. Instead, forever the artist, I see God creating a wonderful mosaic. You can't even tell it used to be a vase. It has transformed into a captivating collection of colors and shapes. And even in the breaking of the most fragile of pottery, creation has occurred.

Father, take my broken offering and make me whole.