Broken but Priceless

In my recent absence there have been a few blogs that I've been keeping up with, most of them are my "real life" friends.  I love them and couldn't bear to not pop in semi-regularly to smile at what their children are doing, pray for them in their challenges, and learn about what God has been doing in their lives.  I have forsaken most of my creative inspiration, or "fluff" blogs as I like to call them, simply because they didn't offer much meat to my blog diet.  That's not to say that I go without creative inspiration though.  I read a blog called Chatting At The Sky for example and this particular page that I'm linking to was entirely inspiring.

Emily Freeman is the blog author and she has quite a few similar interests as me.  She writes for Compassion International, which I am a firm supporter of.  She loves her family to pieces.  I also love my family to pieces.  She writes for Dayspring, and I love many of the Dayspring lines.  But what really gets to me is her heart for the arts, or more specifically encouraging people to find an artistic outlet.  This is something that I firmly agree with, mostly because we are made in the image of a creative God.

Emily's article has to be read as a whole for my post to make sense so please go do so.  I'll wait.  Just don't get too lost in her wonderful blog to forget that I'm here...

***crickets chirping***

Oh.  You're back.  Fabulous!

My favorite part of the whole article is the line "We may admire your wholeness, but we can touch your brokenness".  She's telling people not to wait until they are whole, and sure of themselves to create something.  Not to wait until they are "ready" to share something that they've made, or written, or drawn or imagined.  She's making the point that sometimes being able to relate to someone and have whatever they've made speak to our specific pain or a challenge we're facing is more valuable than seeing something beautiful  and "perfect" that we've created.

My friend Trina and I were sort of discussing the value of showing our brokenness recently.  We sat around a campfire and chuckled over the idea that someone might think that we have it "all together" and that we are calm and collected, our house is clean and perfect, or our family is ideal.  We can laugh at this because we both know how far it is from truth.  We've seen each others struggles and seen real life happening.  And yet we both would love to only blog about the good things.  We'd love to only rejoice in the beauty and stray from writing or creating things that might represent a funk or a sad time in our lives.  I know that I personally have a hard time thinking that I could do anything but depress someone by writing about my struggles.

But then if I recall about how easily a new friend can be needlessly intimidated by all the perfection she sees on my blog then I can remember that I'm not in this alone.  There are people who not only will be able to see my imperfections, but also see that they are not the only broken ones.  Maybe something I write about my struggles will help them through their own. 

On a grander scale, not only are we often more valuable to friends when we're broken but consider our Lord.  Being completed by ourselves we are worthless.  We're unable to be saved, and we're unable to glorify God.  But to be broken, to be torn apart and losing parts of ourselves, is of the highest value.  Practically priceless to us.  There is no price that could ever be paid for that brokenness because with it comes the sweetest gift. 

Because we have been broken, He can mend us.  Because we surrender all the broken second-rate parts of ourselves he can replace those empty gaps with Him.  And that is something that we can never exchange for.  He has paid the highest price, giving his son to us as a Savior and absorbing all the nasty sides, all the broken rotten pieces of us. 

Does it make sense?  Not really.  If you're a parent you can imagine that sort of selfless love but still our human nature thinks we should repay Him, if we could.  But really, we can make an offering.  We can offer all that is left, the other broken pieces that are left.  We can offer ourselves broken so that he can rebuild us.  He can do that if we're broken.  If we're broken we have value to Him.  Unbroken we have absolutely nothing to offer. 

See if you can follow me here.  As artists, if we're broken we can be used by Him.  We can tell the heartwrenching story of how we were saved.  We can write about how deep the depths were.  We can paint a picture of the wreckage.  We can sing about how our heart is crying.. and then we can sing about how we still have hope because of a Savior who loves us.  A Savior who has taken over for us, who carries our burdens while we walk through the troubles, who has become a part of us...

Emily says "We may admire your wholeness, but we can touch your brokenness".  If Christ is a part of you, then not only can someone admire your wholeness after you're completed by Him and wonder of it..  But they can actually touch your brokenness when you choose to let them.  And in touching your brokenness they in turn are touching He who is a part of you now.  They can touch the one who will mend you. 

And all of a sudden you, the cracked and chipped worthless broken piece of art, have worth because the one who is within you is priceless and you have pleased Him.

As the clay is in the potters hand to fashion it at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of him that made him, to render to them as liketh him best.  Ecc 33:13

Flowers, created by a creative God, being arranged by the hands of an artist, my dear friend Trina.