Last week I received a chest of items from home. I had given my family a rather detailed list of odds-and-ends I wanted them to pack up for me, which they willingly did. (Thank you!!) The chest was then shipped to a colleague in California and then Steve brought it with him on his trip to Uruguay, with a stop-off in Brazil first. That chest, and its contents, put in a lot of miles in order to land on my doorstep a week ago!
Unfortunately, not all of the items made is "safely". Two ceramic casserole dishes didn't weather the trip very well at all. They had been a gift to me from a friend and her parents - she was with me when I first saw them in an antique shop and couldn't get my eyes off of them. So she and her parents decided to surprise me with a "just because" gift several weeks later. And my sentimental heart wanted them with me in my new home here in Montevideo...
But the move was too much for them... and they were too frail.
Last week I was in the midst of an intense schedule - meetings from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. - when my head "broke". Migraine symptoms appeared and have woven themselves in-and-out over the past four days. I hate when this happens!! Although I get them infrequently, they can be a real nuisance when they show up and they seem to be triggered by any number of things. But they require me to lie in bed with the room darkened - forced into a posture of rest and inactivity until the pain and visual issues subside.
Broken... It's not a descriptive word I like - especially not for me! I like to believe I'm capable... competent... strong... an accomplisher... Anything BUT someone who just spent large portions of the past four days resting in bed. But my physical body has stopped me short... and God has been speaking to me through this experience.
Things break... everything has its weak points. And it's better, and wiser, to acknowledge this reality than to just charge my way through life under the false pretense that my strength makes me unbreakable when God actually says the exact opposite - God's power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
I don't have to fake being strong... and I don't have to rush to glue back together the broken bits... Somehow His power is present even in my frailties, inadequacies and weakness. Brokenness can actually be a good thing. It's what let's His power be evident.
So, thanks, dear friend, for the ceramic casserole dishes - I still wish they were in one piece... but they've taught me an important lesson in their broken state as well.
