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Thoughts From Paula

Broken Things Can Bloom

By Paula Dickson |  April 20, 2010

 

I absolutely love winter…the cold…the frost…the possibility of snow. I even love the bare trees. Nothing is hidden. From the massive trunks of hundred year-old trees to the smallest delicate branches of a young sapling, everything is exposed. And in that exposure is the beauty of a creator who has fashioned everything from His hand.

But in that exposure there is also the possibility of serious harm.

Cold winter rains become ice on bare branches and if the load is too much, too heavy to bare, then the branch snaps. Sometimes even the entire tree falls to the ground.

I had noticed branches just like that as winter gave way to spring.

Bent and broken, they were dead to the eye. But then today when traveling along the highway I saw some of those bent, broken branches in full bloom. Bright, purple flowers seemed to say with neon splendor, "I made it!!" And as I thought on it, I heard God gently say to me, "Broken things can bloom."

And the more I thought on it, the more excited I got. "BROKEN THINGS CAN BLOOM." Whether it is a broken tree, a broken dream or a broken life, broken things can bloom. How dismissive we often are of our own brokenness, thinking it is of no use to God, with no possibility of life springing forth from what is surely dead.

But the truth is our brokenness can often become our greatest point of change, our greatest point of triumph. When placed at the feet of our Father, even our brokenness can become a sacrifice. And how appropriate, as the master craftsman is the only one who can truly restore us, renew us, redeem our broken lives.
 
 
 
Paula Dickson is the Director of Missions and Outreach at The Church On The Square
 

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