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Where has your brokenness brought you? Are you seeking to heal? Maybe you are in the process of healing. Healing can look different for everyone. We all heal differently and at our own pace, there are no time limits. It takes time.
Last week we saw how the potter formed a pot to hold flowers. And as life goes, accidents happen. The pot fell and broke. But the potter still had plans for the broken pot. After putting it back together the cracks had formed an interesting pattern. The potter painted those cracks to create a beautiful design to compliment the pot’s structure and the pot was able to function again holding water for beautiful flowers.
The potter decided that he wanted another pot. And so he started the process over again. Pounding and kneading the clay to get all the air out. His plan for this pot was to be bigger and taller to accommodate the flowers bursting from his garden and to compliment the first pot and add more contrast to the room. And so he began to form the clay on the potter’s wheel, adding pressure and water to cool the surface.
After the pot was completed, the potter added some water and fresh flowers and placed it on a window sill. One day, the pot accidentally fell onto the floor. Broken into pieces the potter bent down to gently pick up the pieces. There was one piece that broke into tiny pieces he could just not put together. But he continued anyway. That one piece left a hole right in the middle of the pot. The edges were asymmetrical and rough so the potter got some sand paper and smoothed out the edges and made the hole a little more symmetrical.
The potter had some candles that had been burnt down, making them the perfect fit for inside the pot. He placed the candle on a shelf in a dark corner of the room, illuminating the the house. Things seemed brighter and he realized how often he has stumbled in that corner of the room. But now he could see clearly and he saw the clutter in that part of the room that made him stumble so he cleared it out. The room is more beatiful now with the light from the candle, the decorated pots and now the clutter is gone.
Can you relate to these pots? Has your life been broken into pieces? Do you need light shed on the dark corners of your heart where you stumble and sin? Do you need restoration? Do you need healing and restoration? Stay tuned for next week, there’s more to this story.
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When God created us He had a purpose in mind. Like like an artist has a plan for a piece of art. An artist is usually inspired by something to create a piece of art and has a plan and a purpose. Sometimes that purpose is to just add beauty, or it may be more functional to hold flowers or utensils, or something from which to drink, maybe to carry light.
God uses the imagery of a potter sculpting a piece of pottery. “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NIV). God formed us in His image, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, …” Genesis 1:26 (NIV). And He has a plan for our lives, “For I know the plans I have for you, …” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).
When the potter takes a block of clay, or a lump of clay it has no aesthetic form. The clay out of the package is moist and pliable, it can be easily formed and molded into anything the potter wants.
But before the potter begins, the potter has a plan, a design and a purpose in mind for the pot. The clay is slapped down on the potter’s wheel and is pounded. It is kneaded like bread to get the air out. The potter does this for a few minutes and as he does this kneading process, the clay becomes warm and softer. The the clay is slapped down one more time on the wheel and as the wheel begins to turn the potter wraps his hands around the lump of clay and begins to give it form. The clay can get a little dry from the friction of the potter’s hands, so the potter wets his hands and adds water to the clay and continues to shape and form the pot.
Now comes the time to add more pressure, this time from the top to make an opening, hollowing out the inside. By adding pressure at certain points on the outside, the potter can create grooves and curves giving the pot some interest and design. The potter is almost done. The lip of the pot is formed and smoothed out, he gives the it one final spin on the wheel, checking it, looking it over. The wheel stops and he takes a piece of string, slides it under the newly formed pot and lifts it off the wheel.
Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; …”
Isaiah 64:8
He takes it to a shelf with other pieces to dry for a few weeks. That clay, that lump of clay has been through a lot, pounding, kneading, spinning, pressure from all sides, from the top, emptied out, now resting on shelf, in the stillness, nothing happening, no movement, other pieces come and go, it’s still there just resting until the potter is ready to bake it.
The days pass and the potter takes the pot off the shelf. It is dry now. It is ready. It is ready to be baked in the kiln. The temperature in a kiln gets between 2124 – 2264 degrees Fahrenheit. The pot will bake for up to ten hours in the kiln. When the firing is complete and things have cooled down the potter takes the pot and gets it ready for its desired use.
The potter’s room is square like most rooms and as a matter of fact everything is square in the room, pictures, windows, furniture, books, bookcases, area rugs, tables, everything is square. The pot is round and will add contrast to the square room. (sometimes a contrast could be a compliment, opposites do attract). It will be obvious of it’s roundness. The pot will also have several uses. It will first hold fresh cut flowers. When the flowers fade the potter has another use, to hold paint brushes , pens, and pencils.
But one day the pot falls and breaks into several several pieces. Still, the potter loves this little pot and puts it back together. The cracks form an interesting pattern and the potter paints the cracks into a pretty motif. He adds more fresh flowers and water. The pot is holding water again. The pot is more beautiful with it’s pretty painted motif. It’s adding more beauty to the room, standing out even more.
How much like that pot are we after we are broken and healed? How have you experienced brokenness? Have you healed? Are you the same? What has changed for you?
Pause and think about your brokenness, where has it brought it you? How have you healed? Maybe you haven’t healed, maybe you’re in the process. There is hope and there’s more to this story, like there’s more to our brokenness. Stay tuned for next week.
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Psalm 119:36.
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And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Hewbrews 13:16
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n. A state of equilibrium, as in an organism or cell, maintained by self-regulating processes.
n.The ability and tendency of certain systems to maintain a relatively constant internal state in spite of changes in external conditions; this ability is achieved by the presence of feedback mechanisms which can adjust the state of the system to compensate for changes in the state caused by the external environment. It is exemplified in homeothermal biological systems, such as animals which maintain relatively constant blood temperature and composition in spite of variations in external temperature or the composition of the food ingested.
n.The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a stable equilibrium; such as the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain a constant temperature.
-American Heritage Dictionary
Back in 2020 our world changed. Our daily lives practically came to a halt, routines changed, nothing was normal. Everything from terminology, commutes, conversations, travel, work, statuses, relationships, everything that we once new as normal changed, disrupting our lives.
Homeostasis is what our physical bodies do when it encounters change in its environment. When it’s cold outside, our bodies form goose bumps raising the hairs on our skin to form a layer of air between the skin and the hair to keep warm. Our bodies are always trying to stay in a constant state of balance, equilibrium.
Why don’t our minds have a homeostasis or do they? When our environment changes in any way, we can perceive it as a threat. Back to it being cold outside, we can be outside enjoying a warm day and then a cold wind can sweep in a cold front and suddenly we are cold and we get goose bumps. But what about our minds? How can we keep our minds stable? Like when our environment effects our minds our spiritual walk can be affected as well. What about spiritual homeostasis?
When the pandemic hit and all these changes happened, how did it affect you spiritually? How easy was it for your mind to feel lost, go in a million directions, forget your routine especially when it came to your time with God? Don’t know about you, but for me it seems like that is the one of the first things to take a hit. Why is it so hard to stay consistent? Daniel in the Bible was abruptly taken from his home, his family and friends. He was taken away from all that he ever knew and thrown into an environment that went completely against what he believed. Babylon was beautiful. Imagine the most beautiful community, manicured lawns, adorned passage ways and buildings with every possible convenience right outside your door. Now there’s nothing wrong with those things but those things have their place (another post for another time).
Daniel was consistent with his walk with God. He remained faithful in praying three times a day to God (Daniel 6:10-17) and remained faithful to his Hebrew culture by continuing to eat healthy and refusing the choice foods from the kings table (Daniel 1:8-16). He resolved to continue to live as he had before he was kidnapped. He was anchored in God’s Word and it was because of his obedience God allowed him to be favored by the king (Daniel chapter 1). For myself, I find comfort in routine. Kinda like in RainMan where Dustin Hoffman playing the part of Raymond Babbit, an older brother with autism. No matter where he was he had to watch Judge Wapner. His younger brother Charlie Babbit played by Tom Cruise, somehow made it happen. He went to the great lengths of knocking on doors of strangers asking if they would let him and his brother in to watch TV. When Charlie recreated the routine or the environment for Raymond, things were good, otherwise Raymond couldn’t cope.
Think about it. How often do you find yourself out of your routine and your time with God gets derailed or pushed aside. Some days it can’t be helped but then one day turns into a week and then two weeks then you can’t remember the last time you spent with God reading His Word. How do we keep a spiritual homeostasis when our routine changes? I find it hard to cope without spending time with God each day. Some days it may happen later in the day, some days it may happen before the sun comes up, depending on what’s on the agenda for the day. But it has to happen so that when the environment changes, I can be consistent with at least one thing and remain faithful to God.
What are some things you do to keep that spiritual homeostasis? What helps you keep an equilibrium when your routine and environment change? Share your thoughts and comments and please like and share.
Love can be complicated. So can life. God commands us to love, to love Him and our neighbor. What God asks of us is summed up in one simple four letter word, love. Galatians 5:14. 1 Corinthians 13:13 – Faith, hope and love… the greatest of these is love. How hard can those two simple commands be? For us humans, it can be pretty hard sometimes. What is it that makes this one simple command so hard sometimes?
The answer is simple. We can only love one thing at a time. Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 explain that we can’t have one foot in the world and one serving God.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” as Matthew 6:24 states.
We may be living in this world but we don’t have to be a part of it. We can still enjoy most things in this world, they have their right place in our hearts and our lives. And how we use those things determines where our hearts are.
When our heart is divided it makes choosing difficult. Choose to love one another, choose to love God over the things this world has to offer. It can be tempting to want some things of this world, but Jesus knows all about being tempted – Matthew 4:1-11, but God has overcome the world – John 16:25-30. When we choose love now we are choosing something that will last into eternity.
Keep it simple, choose love, choose God first.
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:13
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Choose to show kindness and love in these troubled times
The Kedge Anchor is back. Had to take a little break. Lent came up and decided to take a social media fast. Then Lent came and went and life happened. But we’re back and here’s this week’s post. I find it to be a challenge for me, how about you?
Navigating troubled times. What does navigating through these turbulent times look like for you? We read a post that we may find offensive or triggers some negative emotion. Someone says something you strongly disagree with and feel threatened. The uncertainty of when all these restrictions and mandates will be lifted and gone. What does God’s Word tell us to do? Trusting God is one, reading His word is another, but when we feel attacked by a social media post or by something someone says, what should we do? Do we lash out, name call? I know at times we want to. But that’s not solving any issues. Don’t we want to stop the hate and anger? We have choices. We can choose to say nothing. Because how many times have you heard, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything”? Psalm 141:3 – “Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (NIV)
There are times that we need to speak up and we should but we need to make sure we are speaking out of truth and grace, that we are not cutting others down. That requires wisdom which comes by reading God’s Word and asking for wisdom. Colossians 4:6 – “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (NIV)
Be kind to others, even if they disagree with you or make you angry. It’s ok to be angry, just don’t hurt anyone else in your anger. Being kind to our enemies! Whaaaaat?! Yah, how would you react if you angered someone but they turned around and were kind to you? Would you be repentitive? Sorry? You may be a little taken back. But we break the cycle of anger and hate by forgiving and showing kindness. Sounds too simple, huh? Well, try it; it works! I believe we will make a bigger statement by doing the opposite of what society expects we would do. What if we extended grace instead of trashing a place or someone? What if our response was, “Father, forgive them they no not what they do?” Luke 23:34
Many times someone is just looking to make others angry and get a reaction out of them. Don’t fall for it as tempting as it may be. Now sometimes a personal attack we need to proceed with caution and confront and set boundaries, but that’s another post.
Trust me there will be a battle within you. Your heart and your head will not agree. Your heart may be saying forgive and love and your head is ready to tear down and cause some destruction. But you can choose. You can choose how you will react, whether or not your head or heart will win. But once you choose to forgive and love, your head will catch up.
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Romans 12:20 (NIV)
And most of all, the most effective thing I believe we can do is pray. Let’s face it, you will at some point from here on out be angered by something, a post, a story on the news, a billboard, name it. Resolve now how you will respond. Imagine yourself, being angered and seeing that anger placed in a box and sent down a river and choosing to forgive. Forgiving, being gracious and showing kindness is just one way we can break the cycle of hate and anger and navigate these troubled times.
The Kedge Anchor 
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