Terry Baker gave me an article recently and I wanted to share part of it with you. The writer, Silas Shotwell, describes a trip to Disneyland he took with his then fiancé in the early 1960's...
'It was in Frontierland that Edna Mae and I went to a gift shop that specialized in curios from Mexico. We were both attracted to a brightly painted piggy bank. It was large, maybe the size of two basketballs. It was not expensive, but we liked it. So we bought it and protected it carefully throughout the rest of the trip.
We married in August and moved to the Hood River Valley in Oregon. The piggy bank came with us. By that time, it had a lot of change in it, but it wasn't nearly full. During the months ahead we put more and more change into it, until we finally couldn't put any more. It was stuffed.
This particular piggy bank had a slot in the top but no opening in the bottom to take out the coins. The only way to remove the coins was to spend countless hours shaking the thing upside down, or breaking it! We opted to break it! I don't remember how much money was in the pig. I know we used it to buy some furniture we needed. I also remember that it was a bit painful to take a hammer and break open Mr. Pig! We had protected him and transported him for hundreds of miles over several months. But it had to be done if we wanted the treasure inside.
So we broke the pig and the valuable contents were then available to us. A woman came to Jesus in Bethany. She was a "broken" woman. But she wanted to serve and honor Jesus. So she took a container of perfume that was so expensive that it would have taken a year's wages to purchase it. It was in an alabaster jar. For the fragrance of the ointment to be experienced, the jar had to be broken. So she broke it, and the wonderful fragrances filled the room as she drizzled the content on Jesus' head. He blessed her for what she did. Her loving extravagance out-weighed the tragedy of the brokenness.
You don't really know what's inside a person until they are broken. The way a person appears doesn't mean very much when things are going well. We can all clean up pretty well. Everyone experiences brokenness at some point. Look at the writings of the Apostle Paul, who is often forced to defend himself against harsh criticisms.
When a person is lied about or taken for granted, or blamed for things that aren't their fault, you see what's inside. I think the Lord used the brokenness of folks like Paul and the woman at Bethany to enhance his ministry. That could also be said of the leadership of Moses, David, Peter and so many others. Show me a person who as suffered and I'll show you a person who has more potential to comfort and encourage others.
If...they contain Godly and spiritual treasure.'
Are you being broken for the cause of Christ? Are you allowing this experience to fill you with a renewed spirit to minister to others, or is brokenness revealing bitterness, blame and self-pity?
How big are the leaves you are leaving behind for others to follow?
5 comments:
That makes a lot of sense to me. I have honestly learned so much more about the people closest to me after this huge ordeal along with learning about myself. I got to see a completely different side of everybody and I have found respect for those who are going through the same pains I am and dealing with them in a mature manner. I'd have to agree that brokenness really does open a window to a person's soul. It shows where the values and concerns really are. Like the woman with the perfume. She came broken to Jesus just as we all do time to time, but she gave probably the most valuable thing she possessed and just opened up and spilled it onto Jesus. I think that's what we are supposed to do when we are broken. We take our pain and hurt to Christ and he makes us whole again.
I find it so tempting to try and handle everything myself. But then I get in a situation like I find myself in now, and there is NO option but to cling to my trust and faith in God. Maybe He has been trying to get my attention for a while now, and was unable to, and maybe I wasn't listening. All i know is how much I have enjoyed our gatherings, and how alive I feel right now in my relationship to God, despite all the pain of the last few weeks.
Beth Moore (Bemo) said in her Esther study that we (as humans) so often try to figure out the "how" in all situations. Ryan accuses me of always running to the end of the road of all situations to figure out "how" to work it all out. Right now I would like to know "how" all this brokenness is going to be for the glory of God. Beth Moore looked at the audience she was speaking to and in her Houston southern accent said, ironically, "Fire Yourself. It is not your job to figure out the how!"
"you don't really know what is inside of a person until they are broken."
wow. i read that and teared up almost instantly. being broken scares me so much for this very reason. i am terrified of whats inside me. and i'm scared of all the implications of others being able to see it.
i dont like it. i dont like anything that implies i dont get to choose what and when people see what is inside of me. but if i have to be broken for others to really see it, that means it will all come rushing out at once.
but one time i remember in axis being asked a specific question in which my answer began with "the only thing i can think of is the only thing i DONT want to tell everyone...which i think means i'm supposed to say it..."
i feel this way about being broken. i'm so scared of it. maybe that means i need it to happen. ouch.
What an incredibly honest, brave post, Taylor Price! I thought immediately of these words from the Apostle Paul...
Romans 5...
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
May God produce abiding hope through your brave submission to His will!
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