....broken pieces....

I've been thinking a lot about being broken....We are all broken. For some of us, that is easier to acknowledge than it is for others. But, still, it is there. Some of us are broken in half, devastated and without hope. Others of us are just (in our minds) chipped, the perfection barely broken. Nonetheless............

 I walked along a sandy beach, impressed, inspired, in thought...
Gazing on the ocean, vast, amazing wonders wrought.
How insignificant was I to stand along this shore?
The power represented here, the mighty ocean's roar!
My quest that day, to seek out the shells thrown up by waves each night;
To find the perfect specimens, pleasing to my sight.
No chips, no cracks, no barnacles to mare its surface. Then
I'd pick it up, the chosen one, approved. I'd smile again.
But more and more I'd toss them back, rejected for their scars.
The broken ones were everywhere, as many as the stars.
And as I looked, so many had the possibility
For beauty on their broken backs or underneath to see.
The colors, shapes and textures they represented each,
Were strewn in multitudes across that sandy beach.
I looked at my collection, then and stopped to think anew.
The ones I had were merely whole, but beautiful were few.
I turned around and started back, discarded ones to find.
I wanted them, the broken ones, they were on my mind.
For suddenly, I realized they represented me.
Broken, yes, but even more, remolded perfectly!
All tumbled in the ocean sand and slammed against the shore,
Each shell had come to me that day from off the ocean floor.
Each had its own story, its journey from the deep
That represented its own struggles....then I began to weep.
The ocean was my life that day, and me the broken shell.
My Savior, the collector there, and He was choosing well.
"I know how I can use this one!" He said and then picked me.
And in my Savior's hand then, I knew that He could see
Beauty there within myself I did not recognize.
He wanted me, He'd use my life. I'd value in His eyes.
So as I left the beach that day, wonders in my soul,
I had to smile. I had to praise. For Christ had made me whole!

rdb, 3/14