Broken Gifts

The truck’s tires did not break in time

A broken shell of a girl

Lied in the dust

It had not seemed that long ago

Her mother’s water had broken

And this precious one

Had broken through the womb

As a seed first is broken

Before it grows and blooms

A mother’s heart is broken

Along with darling dreams

Inside the psych ward, she screams

“Why, God? Why?”

Her marriage cannot stand the strain

It breaks

More shards of pain

Her other daughter

Picks them up

And breaks the flesh

Upon her fragile teenaged-wrist

She wished

She could make sense

Of all this brokenness

Of all these shards

This life so hard

Her broken heart,

She offers to the Lord

It’s all she can afford

He takes a hold of it

With care,

And slowly, He repairs

As she prays

The brilliant rays

Of His Light shines through

The broken parts

She dares to count the ways

That God has blessed her

Through her life

Of troubles, hardship, strife

She breaks bread with Christ

And shares communion -

His suffering and hers

Are fused into a union

She knows His power

Breaks the chains

Of sin and death

And He is close

To the broken-hearted

Who sigh and groan

With heavy breath

She takes the broken bread

And the cup that’s poured

Christ’s broken flesh

Makes her become

More fully whole,

More fully real,

More abundantly alive

Not without its

Brokenness and pain

But with Christ’s love and hope

And peace she can’t explain

She holds His nail-scarred hand

And breaks into a joyous laugh

“For the joy set before Christ,

He endured the cross

On our behalf”

She cannot make sense of His

Great love and humbleness

To suffer for us

But knowing this,

She is wholly blessed

---

January 13, 2017

Inspired by Ann Voskamp's books, One Thousand Gifts and The Broken Way