Does Broken Require Replacing?

“Pop, you should have a handicap sticker.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Because of the way your park! You’re right back tire is on one line and your front left is on the other! And you even pulled out and tried to back in straight!”

I have never been able to consistently ‘hit the nail on the head’ in a literal sense. One fitting nickname is ‘Lightning’ because I never strike the same place twice. When using a splitting maul, the steel head only hits the wood 3 out of 4 times. The other time I try to split the wood with the handle. Thus, I only buy a splitting maul with a lifetime warranty. When a tool, like my maul, is broken, it is of very limited use. But what about when a person is ‘broken’?

Last Sunday, we closed the service with a song asking Father to mold us and shape us according to His will. Then, in closing the pastor mentioned being ‘broken’ by the Spirit. But if I am broken, like my splitting maul, how can God mold and shape me? Am I not broken and need to be returned for a replacement? I asked Pastor Tom about this afterwards and he brought up the concept of ‘breaking in a horse’ in order to guide it to the rider’s will. I have pondered that all week. When clay is exposed to the air, a hard crust forms on the surface. To mold the clay, that crust has to be broken into small pieces and mixed back into the clay, becoming mold-able again. Does this apply to us as people?

Yes, in ways it does. A person can become ‘jaded’ by life, hardened such that the empathy for others is nearly gone. The Apostle Paul writes of a ‘hardening of the heart’ where one no longer notices when God thunders overhead. Is this ‘hardening’ the wall that I build around my soul that needs to be broken so that the Spirit of God can get in? Or perhaps radiate out?

In my experience, Father takes these small, sharp broken pieces of my walls, wraps them in His mercy, and then uses them to start piercing another’s wall. It is with these broken pieces of my independent, stubborn pride that Father uses me to guide others towards experiencing His life.

How has He used your broken pieces, wrapped in His mercy, to communicate His love to others? Your children? Your wife? Your parents?