Got Glue?

This little ceramic plaque fell off my wall one day and was dashed to pieces on my ceramic tile floor. I was upset at first, but now that it's all glued back together I think it means more to me broken than it ever meant to me whole. 

I think the imperfections of the broken plaque add character and dimension and make the message more meaningful. Before it was just a nice reminder that I shouldn't let my imperfections stop me from doing things. But now whenever I look at it I am reminded that while I am broken, imperfect, and inadequate, with God's help I can be useful and valuable still the same--maybe even more so than if I were in perfect condition.

God's Grace is glue and wholeness only comes through Him. In fact, it is the "Him" inside each of us holding us together that qualifies us. If it were possible to be perfect without God, there would be no place for Him in our hearts. Then where would we be? A nice thought without real meaning? Knowledge without wisdom?

In that sense, I'm glad to be broken! It's the cracks and chinks that make people interesting, anyway. They give us dimension and depth as long as we have the Glue. Without the Glue though, we're just a bunch of broken, jumbled, meaningless pieces.

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Being Wrong

Beauty and the Beast

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Source of Goodness

"A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble -- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

"That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or -- if they think there is not -- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside of him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof  of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Closed Doors and Grass Huts

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

--Helen Keller

 

The Little Grass Hut

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened!  Everything was lost! He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger.

"GOD, how could you do this to me?" he cried. Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

Moral of the story:

It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering. Remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

--Author Unknown

Raise your Sail

Illustration: Mary Engelbreit

Quote: Sri Ramakrishna

                               

Lately, I have been pondering a lot on the idea presented in this quote—specifically the importance of Action.

I’m sure everyone else already has this figured out, but I just recently discovered that when I’m feeling down in the dumps, I feel better instantly if I can find one thing to ACT on.

For instance, I recently had a shift in my community of friends. Not a big change, yet it affected my mental state. I noticed myself slipping into some type of depressed longing for my old, comfortable community. 

I felt sorry for myself for a little while before I started praying to be delivered from my sadness. That’s when I was blessed with a sudden, inspired change of perspective. I stopped seeing my life as happening to me and started seeing it as a fertile field. And what does one do with a fertile field? Sit around lamenting the lack of plants? No, one plants the field! Ah-hah! What I needed to do was ACT!

And that’s exactly what I did. I baked a batch of homemade bread, took a loaf to one of the ladies I didn’t know in my new community, offering friendship. While the act didn’t exactly start a new friendship as I hoped, I did discover that it wasn’t so much about the reward; it was the ACT that made me feel better! And come to think of it, even the prayer was an act. Grace was there, like the quote says, I just had to raise my sail and ask for it.

Since learning this lesson, I have found it useful and effective whenever I get a little blue about anything—life, family, friendship, difficulty, disappointment, that heavy overwhelmed feeling, you name it. Action has been an instant escape button – a miracle cure – every time!

So next time life gets ya down, pick your preferred metaphor (“Raise your Sail,” “Plant your Field,” or the old standby, “Make Lemonade”) and just ACT. It may just heal your heart like it does mine.