Perfectly Broken

I was headed to the mailbox this afternoon and I spied the perfect tiny egg in the photo above nestled in the pine straw in front of my house. My heart sank. I assumed the little life inside was lost since the egg was no longer in a nest to be warmed by a mother bird's soft feathers. Then I turned the egg over with my foot and my hopes rose. It was just half of an egg. The bird inside had emerged and the shell was no longer needed! I now wrapped my mind around the idea of a strong, determined life, beak open, receiving food from his mother and growing stronger daily.

Sometimes life looks horribly bleak. All of our senses tell us our dreams are dead. That there is no resurrecting them, no feeling the joy they once held in our imaginations. Sometimes if seems as if the sun will never, ever shine again. We look around (or open social media) and it seems that the sun IS shining quite heartily on everyone else. Everyone we have ever known seems to have won the lottery of life and we are left with ashes.

It's at this point that we have a choice. We can dump said ashes on our heads and sit in a heap. Or...we can hold our hands out to God and let Him raise us. He'll clean the ashes from our hands and give us brand new dreams. He'll draw new, beautiful pictures across the windows of our imaginations, allowing us to hope for things we never thought possible before. He can bring our joy back. He can bring our own personal shine back.

God is a restorer of broken people.