Thoughts from a Formerly Broken Dish

…You’ve gathered                                     all these broken pieces

…………and taken them out of my hands, out of my reach.

………………….I could put them back together

…………………………….and be ok.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

But \ it \\ is / not for \ me //to \ say \ when this

healing / will / be \\done, \ all / these // pieces     a cup of beauty

of \\\shattered / earthen // ware // unscattered        and joy, cracks

and// my / purpose \ returned \ to \ me. \ I am…and all.

more \ when \ You / put \ me \ back / together,

rebuilding /me \into \an /altogether \new \thing,

.

“God of the break and shatter\\ Hearts in every form still matter.” -Jars of Clay

Water: Wine

Was it like a blood transfusion?

The new blood cells entering the body

and intermingling with the old over time

until no trace of a difference was found between the two?

.

Or was it all at once,

a hydrogen becoming a protein here,

an oxygen popping into a sugar there,

and suddenly the fragrance of wine wafting up from the jar?

.

We are slow in recognizing change in ourselves.

We don’t notice until the transformation is almost complete,

and we are a shade different from who we used to be,

a drop more bitter

or sweeter.

.

Made of water,

but so much more,

we are swirled up, stirred up,

changed by the same hand.

We are water made into wine,

recreated into divinity held in fragile jars.

.

Done in remembrance,

but much more than memory,

we are changed into you

by the same mystery that made God into a man

and changed one man

into an offering for the world.

Hidden in Death

I.

Christ was buried.

Can you imagine the greatness of God

being hidden underground.

Not just crucified,

but taken down and wrapped in cloths,

swaddled,

and laid to rest alone.

There is something final in burial.

II.

We have all hidden the best parts of ourselves

from the world,

kept away some little secret truth,

closed within the folds of our hearts.

But what did God mean by letting

Himself be hidden in death?

III.

A great secret,

bursting forth in the light,

so triumphant and glorious.

IV.

For, what seed, if not covered with earth,

does not cultivate something greater.

What beauty it brings forth

when this secret finally unfurls.