See Glass

Sometimes when I am collecting shells on the beach, I find small treasures of broken glass. They aren't sharp shards that cut. The ocean has tumbled them into nuggets of what looks like frozen gelatin. The pieces have lost their slicing ability and have a soft beauty.

The colors can range from browns (beer bottles) to greens (soda pop or wine bottles) to blues (medicine bottles). It's interesting how there can be beauty in a broken object. The use is long gone, because the object is in pieces--never to be glued together again. The labels are long gone, the color whispers of a possible past the bottle had.

I like to collect them and keep with my shells, like frozen water droplets. Others create mobiles or wind chimes out of driftwood and fishing line. Still others make one-of-a-kind jewelry.

What has been broken in your life dear reader? How many out there have shattered dreams, lost loved ones or fragmented lives all jumbled together and cutting deep? No matter how you try to carry it, a sliver works it's way into your heart.

Some days I will visit the ocean at sunrise. I pour out my broken heart to God and my tears mingle with the salt spray. And He takes my fragile pieces and tumbles them in the waves and washes my soul.

I still have the broken pieces, but the edges are worn soft and the labels are washed away. He creates something new out of them. Something to share with others. The beauty of healing shines through and I can move forward and know that a new purpose has come out of that pain...

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Psalm 56:8