LAST SUNDAY SOMEONE BROKE INTO OUR VAN, shattering the side window and stole Linda’s purse. Not a tragedy, just a huge inconvenience, as Linda puts it. Through this “inconvenience” we have learned some lessons, one of them being; safety glass may protect people from serious lacerations, but it is a real bugger to clean up!
Those little pieces of tinted window were everywhere. We swept the car, vacuumed the car, cleaned all the nooks and crannies and still more and more pieces made themselves known. And, before the window was replaced, all you had to do was walk by the car and more glass would fall from the edges of the exposed shattered window. It was a mess!
As I thought about this shattered window it became clear to me that it represents what happens with shattered lives. First, most lives are shattered by the some sort of crisis. Second, when lives are shattered, pieces go everywhere. It’s never an easy clean-up process either. Sometimes, just when you think you got things cleaned up more pieces appear. Like the window in our van, people experiencing shattered lives need to be handled with care, lest more pieces dislodge. But, with the right care and a little patience, shattered lives can be repaired, just like the window in our van.
So, if you’re experiencing a shattered life right now, take hope, your shattered life can be repaired. The good news is that Jesus, like the glass repairman, does not come and glue the pieces back together, he replaces the whole window. Jesus is about making all things new! And that, my friend, is good news!