A Thousand Little Pieces
Life is filled with a thousand little pieces.
Some seasons those pieces fit neatly together and we stand in awe at the layering of each piece. Each piece unveils another glimpse of a beautiful part of our lives unfolding. Other seasons it feels as though the pieces have turned into shards and we become painfully aware our lives are fraught with sharp edges that have blurred the beauty that once shown so brightly. We want to pick up the shards but we quickly learn that each time we work to put the pieces together, our fingers are stabbed by jarring edges. Edges that leave us tender and vulnerable to cuts and bruises. The beauty and the heartache are layered in such an intricate way we are unsure if we can continue the work before us.
There are many who are experiencing the painful realization of a picture that just a few days was filled with beauty and certainty is now filled with shards that have left them broken, exposed, and vulnerable. They desperately want to have their lives of yesterday put back into place, for the pieces to find their way back to that which was known and seemed so full of possibilities. Tears are streaming in the silence in the cover of nightfall. Words of anger and frustration are being shouted from the tops of their hearts and souls hoping beyond hope that the very God they have loved so much would make a way to put it all back together. Uncertainty and disbelief are being flung at God, wondering if their voice is even being heard, noticed, and taken into account.
A beautiful picture is now in a thousand little pieces.
Our faith story is filled with reminders that this life is a thousand little pieces that were bright and beautiful, faithful and loyal, whole and light and yet broken, grief-stricken, anger, and divided. Job is a man who one day looks out and sees a season of life where his children are healthy, his livestock plentiful, and his fields bountiful. Yet the next day brought a barrage of heartbreaking, devastating news that seemed to break his life into a thousand little pieces. Fire, raids, strong winds took every single thing that he held dear, the very ones that he loved with his whole being. The thousand little pieces left Job crying out in anger and disbelief and wanting to simply curl up and be taken out of this world. The brokenness left him shaking his head and in a breathless realization, he merely acknowledges "my spirit is broken."
His once secure and certain picture had been broken into a thousand little pieces.
Friendships were broken as quick platitudes were proclaimed that were to be well-meaning but stripped away Job's own ability to face and walk through the stages of grief. They tried to tell him he must have done something, he had a part in this.
Loneliness settled upon him without the presence of his family, workers, and friends.
Separation occurred as his anger was misunderstood, his frustration denied and questions rose as to why his God would do such a thing to cause such a deep river of loss.
A thousand little pieces scattered before Job.
Job, a faithful servant of God began to question the very one who had held him and designed every hair on his head. Everywhere Job turned he wondered where God was in the thousand little pieces that were now scattered before him. "Look, I go east, he is not there, west and I don't discover him; north in his activity and I don't grasp him, he turns south and I don't see" (Job 23:8).
A thousand little pieces leave Job wondering.
Job was broken into a thousand little pieces. A thousand little movements; conversations of brutal honesty, demands to be heard, a loss of words in the search for wisdom was all had between Job and God. Before Job was ready to receive before the words could take root into the core of his soul, God pronounced the words upon him "You will be secure, for there is hope; you will look around and rest safely" (Job 11:18) and "everything under heaven is mine" (Job 41:11).
A thousand little pieces being made into something different.
The thousand little pieces took what seemed like an eternity for Job to pick up and put back together. It took several seasons in Job's life before he could see the pieces that he so courageously picked up had created yet another beautiful picture before him. Job did not pick up the thousand little pieces by himself, God walked ever so gently with him creating a picture that had increased and doubled in beauty and was far more than Job could have ever imagined.
A thousand little pieces creating a new beautiful picture.
Perhaps this season you have experienced the reality of a beautiful picture being broken into a thousand little pieces and wonder where God is in the midst of this uncertainty; God is helping you to pick up those thousand little pieces. Perhaps friendships have been broken because you stand opposing sides of the issue, God hears your words of weariness. Maybe just maybe your picture has left you wondering where God is, you are isolated by the system of blame, guilt, or shame; God is coming alongside whispering wisdom that says the path is this way. Vulnerable, broken, angry with pieces that have left shards so dangerous we are unsure we will ever have the courage to try again leave us isolated and separated. God is proclaiming to each of us in our own way, you are secure with me, there is hope, I will give you rest and will help you pick up the thousand little pieces that merely seem too painful to deal with.
A thousand little pieces leading to something new.
A thousand little pieces giving us a new picture of what is to come.
A thousand little pieces calling us to bind together.
A thousand little pieces building something holy.
Some seasons those pieces fit neatly together and we stand in awe at the layering of each piece. Each piece unveils another glimpse of a beautiful part of our lives unfolding. Other seasons it feels as though the pieces have turned into shards and we become painfully aware our lives are fraught with sharp edges that have blurred the beauty that once shown so brightly. We want to pick up the shards but we quickly learn that each time we work to put the pieces together, our fingers are stabbed by jarring edges. Edges that leave us tender and vulnerable to cuts and bruises. The beauty and the heartache are layered in such an intricate way we are unsure if we can continue the work before us.
There are many who are experiencing the painful realization of a picture that just a few days was filled with beauty and certainty is now filled with shards that have left them broken, exposed, and vulnerable. They desperately want to have their lives of yesterday put back into place, for the pieces to find their way back to that which was known and seemed so full of possibilities. Tears are streaming in the silence in the cover of nightfall. Words of anger and frustration are being shouted from the tops of their hearts and souls hoping beyond hope that the very God they have loved so much would make a way to put it all back together. Uncertainty and disbelief are being flung at God, wondering if their voice is even being heard, noticed, and taken into account.
A beautiful picture is now in a thousand little pieces.
Our faith story is filled with reminders that this life is a thousand little pieces that were bright and beautiful, faithful and loyal, whole and light and yet broken, grief-stricken, anger, and divided. Job is a man who one day looks out and sees a season of life where his children are healthy, his livestock plentiful, and his fields bountiful. Yet the next day brought a barrage of heartbreaking, devastating news that seemed to break his life into a thousand little pieces. Fire, raids, strong winds took every single thing that he held dear, the very ones that he loved with his whole being. The thousand little pieces left Job crying out in anger and disbelief and wanting to simply curl up and be taken out of this world. The brokenness left him shaking his head and in a breathless realization, he merely acknowledges "my spirit is broken."
His once secure and certain picture had been broken into a thousand little pieces.
Friendships were broken as quick platitudes were proclaimed that were to be well-meaning but stripped away Job's own ability to face and walk through the stages of grief. They tried to tell him he must have done something, he had a part in this.
Loneliness settled upon him without the presence of his family, workers, and friends.
Separation occurred as his anger was misunderstood, his frustration denied and questions rose as to why his God would do such a thing to cause such a deep river of loss.
A thousand little pieces scattered before Job.
Job, a faithful servant of God began to question the very one who had held him and designed every hair on his head. Everywhere Job turned he wondered where God was in the thousand little pieces that were now scattered before him. "Look, I go east, he is not there, west and I don't discover him; north in his activity and I don't grasp him, he turns south and I don't see" (Job 23:8).
A thousand little pieces leave Job wondering.
Job was broken into a thousand little pieces. A thousand little movements; conversations of brutal honesty, demands to be heard, a loss of words in the search for wisdom was all had between Job and God. Before Job was ready to receive before the words could take root into the core of his soul, God pronounced the words upon him "You will be secure, for there is hope; you will look around and rest safely" (Job 11:18) and "everything under heaven is mine" (Job 41:11).
A thousand little pieces being made into something different.
The thousand little pieces took what seemed like an eternity for Job to pick up and put back together. It took several seasons in Job's life before he could see the pieces that he so courageously picked up had created yet another beautiful picture before him. Job did not pick up the thousand little pieces by himself, God walked ever so gently with him creating a picture that had increased and doubled in beauty and was far more than Job could have ever imagined.
A thousand little pieces creating a new beautiful picture.
Perhaps this season you have experienced the reality of a beautiful picture being broken into a thousand little pieces and wonder where God is in the midst of this uncertainty; God is helping you to pick up those thousand little pieces. Perhaps friendships have been broken because you stand opposing sides of the issue, God hears your words of weariness. Maybe just maybe your picture has left you wondering where God is, you are isolated by the system of blame, guilt, or shame; God is coming alongside whispering wisdom that says the path is this way. Vulnerable, broken, angry with pieces that have left shards so dangerous we are unsure we will ever have the courage to try again leave us isolated and separated. God is proclaiming to each of us in our own way, you are secure with me, there is hope, I will give you rest and will help you pick up the thousand little pieces that merely seem too painful to deal with.
A thousand little pieces leading to something new.
A thousand little pieces giving us a new picture of what is to come.
A thousand little pieces calling us to bind together.
A thousand little pieces building something holy.
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