OUR DAILY BREAD : BROKEN BUT BEAUTIFUL

[cimi]

August 6
Wednesday


BROKEN BUT
BEAUTIFUL

READ:
Jeremiah 18:1-6
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[The vessel] was
marred...; so he
made it again into
another vessel, as it
seemed good to the
potter to make.
__Jeremiah 18:4
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Recently, my daughter showed me her collection of sea glass. Also known as beach glass, the varied bits of colored glass are sometimes piece of pottery but often they are pieces of shattered glass bottles. Originally the glass had a purpose, but then it was casually thrown away and became broken.

If the discarded glass ends up in an ocean, its journey is just beginning. As it is relentlessly tossed about by currents and tides, its jagged edges are ground down by the sand and waves and eventually are smoothed away and rounded off. The result is something beautiful. The jewel-like sea glass has found new life and is treasured by Collectors and artists.

In a similar way, a broken life can be renewed when it is touched by God's love and grace. In the Old Testament, we read that when the prophet Jeremiah watched a potter working, he noticed that if an object was marred the potter simply reshaped it (Jer. 18:1-6). God explained that in His hands the people of ancient Israel were like clay, which He would shape as he saw best.

We are never too badly broken for God to reshape. He loves us in spite of our imperfections and past mistakes, and he desires to make us beautiful. __Cindy Hess Kasper

```````````````````````Have Thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!``````````````````````````
``````````````````````````````Thou art the Potter, I am the clay;````````````````````````````````
`````````````````````````````Mold me and make me after thy will,```````````````````````````````
`````````````````````````While I am waiting, yielded and still. __Poland``````````````````````````
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When melted by trial,
we can be fully molded by the Potter.

****************************************today's Bible Reading __ Jeremiah 18:1-6*************************************

1 The word which came to
Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying: 2 "Arise and go
down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause you
to hear My words." 3 Then I
went down to the potter's
house, and there he was,
making something at the
wheel. 4 and the vessel that
he made of clay was
marred in the hand of the
potter; so he made it again
into another vessel, as it
seemed good to the potter
to make.

5 Then the word of the
LORD came to me, saying:

6 "O house of Israel, can I
not do with you as this
potter?" says the LORD.

"Look, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in
My hand, O house of
Israel!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet because of the
disheartening messages he was often called to deliver to the people
of Israel. This title is also appropriate considering the fact that he
also wrote the book of Lamentations. In today's passage, God shows
Jeremiah that there is no situation that is not redeemable. No matter
the mar, no matter the defect, God can remold and reshape the
people of Israel into something useful and beautiful. This is the same
message that Paul delivers to the church of Corinth. "Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). God takes
the old and broken and fashions it into something new and useful.