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Broken Glass

 

Caleb Nichols is a sculptor who specializes in a very distinctive niche: most of his art is created from broken pieces of glass. He creates beautiful, imaginative sculptures from something that was once crushed or shattered. The result is every piece has a strikingly unique and distinctive look. There is nothing cookie-cutter about his work. Each piece is an exquisite work of art.

Each one of us has broken glass in our lives. Sometimes dreams are crushed. Hopes are dashed. Expectations are shattered. Promises are fractured. Plans get smashed. We see broken glass. But God sees a potential masterpiece.

Some of the greatest advances in history came from courageous people picking up the pieces of shattered dreams and broken spirits. Look to innovators like the Wright brothers who overcame tremendous setbacks to create the airplane or Steve Jobs who was kicked out of the very company he created, only to return to build it into an international icon. Or look back to the founders of our nation who constructed this great country out of the shattered alliance with and fractured reliance on England. Perhaps the greatest example is the Christian Church, whose hopes were crushed as their Messiah’s body was broken on a cross, not realizing that His brokenness would be their ultimate salvation.

Each one of us is broken. And that is a necessary step in fitting the pieces of our lives in place so we can become who we were ultimately created to be. No one is exempt from experiencing their hopes and dreams being shattered at some point or another, and probably multiple times in their lives. We can stand there and bemoan the brokenness and the mess, or we can pick up the pieces, give them to God, and allow Him to create a masterpiece. 

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