GOD TREASURES US IN OUR BROKENESS

Keeping the Broken Pieces

Toni Babcock

“I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.” (Psalm 31:12 KJV)

Years ago I was employed tidying up apartments for senior citizens, when I noticed an interesting shadow box hanging on someone’s wall. 

The box framed a collection of broken shards of pottery. 

Each shard was carefully mounted to showcase its shape and the faded design which was painted on it. 

Little did the potter know that one day the broken vessel would become part of an artifact hanging in an apartment hundreds of miles away.

I thought about the shards as I was cleaning. 

They reminded me of the broken pieces in our lives. 

What we do with the shards is up to us. 

We can sweep them under the rug and pretend they’re not actually there, or gather them up and throw them in the trash as useless. 

If however, we see great value in the broken pieces, we’ll hand them over to God and expect He is going to make something beautiful — like David, who learned to own his shards and surrender them to God. 

He was a man who became more than he thought he could be even after he had failed his Lord so miserably.

The fact is God treasures us in our brokenness, so it is a good thing to surrender the shards to his keeping. 

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, thou wilt not despise,” (Psalm 51:17 KJV).

God, take our brokenness and transform us into something beautiful as we put our trust in You — Amen.

Toni Babcock is the author of Reflections from the Heart in Light of the Gospel of Jesus, and The Stone Writer, Christian Fiction for Young Readers and Teens. Contact