BROKEN THINGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21266, 21 February 1931, Page 23

BROKEN THINGS.

Written for the Otago Daily Times By the Rev. D. Gardner Miller. Life is full of broken things. As you retrace, in thought, the road along which you have travelled you seldom find a clear stretch where nothing happened to still the song of the birds or blot out the sunshine. The greater part of the road is strewn with fragments of dreams, broken hopes and baffling disappointments. Yet the remarkable thing about life is just the fact that we ourselves have never been broken. For the most part we remember the sunny hours, the mountainpeak moments, and gracious and unexpected blessings that seem to tumble from the sky upon our heads. The broken things did not break us for underneath us were the Everlasting Arms. We perhaps did not think much about God when life gave us a jolt, but now, looking back, we see that He sustained us until we were able to trudge on again. It takes some time—and we ourselves determine whether the time bo long or short —but at length we begin to realise that a great and gracious purpose runs through our life, and 10, the broken things become united in the crucible of experience. The broken things of life are NOT VALUELESS. Their worth to us, ultimately, is beyond price. The box of ointment, broken by the hands of a woman with poignant memories, became the symbol for all time of a love that transforms grey to gold in the texture of life. The broken prayer of the prodigal, the stairway of contrition, became the doorway to peace. The broken pledge of Peter became, by the understanding love of his Lord, the means of a re-consecration that lasted through life. The broken body of Jesus became the healing of the world. Men thought they had broken Him for good, but the grace of God made the wrath of men praise Him. I do not suggest that it is necessary to fall in order to realise the grip of the lifting hand, or that the greatest sinner makes the greatest saint. That would be untrue to life. What I suggest is that the broken things—the mistakes and outward happenings, the slips and falls—which at the time seemed to make life a blank, can be made to minister, by the grace of God, to the upbuilding of character, if we will let Him have His way with us. Looking back in life we see GRACE AT WORK. The broken things are utilised and the ugly things are transformed. There is a story told that one day a lady showed Ruskin a beautiful and costly handkerchief upon which a drop of ink had been spilled. To her the handkerQhief was ruined. Ruskin said nothing, but took the delicate farbric away with him. In a little while the lady received it back, but she could hardly believe that it was the original. Taking the blot as a basis, Ruskin had worked round it a beautiful design, and changed it into a thing of beauty and of joy. That is what grace does. Even the blots —if we will let Him —can be used to make life richer in beauty. Broken things, blots, humble mistakes, all seem to leave life in ruins, but Christ never despairs, even of ruins. We pay the price for our mistakes, the broken things have sharp edges—for life never lets us off easily. But Chiist is swift to succour and to cheer, for the weak and broken are as dear to Him as the strong and resolute. I would not go so far as to say that “ whatever is, is best,” but I believe, and cherish the belief, that “ all things work together for good (ultimately) to them that love God,” for I am convinced that we are all held within THE CIRCLE OF HIS ARM. The things that break life are not sent to us, for we often bring about our own disasters, but if we yield to Him and seek His help then, by the power of His transforming, understanding love, we shall not be utterly cast down but shall feel the pressure of His arm sustaining us as we stand among the debris. , , ~ , I believe with all my heart that no disaster weakens God’s gracious purpose for us and that if we look up from the broken things that He around our feet we shall see th ( e smiling eyes of God and hear Him say, “All is not lost, my child; let Me put the broken things together again.” There comes to my mind those gracious words of a man who knew that the broken things in his life, which wellnigh conquered him, were by the grace of God, the stepping stones to a humble and consecrated life, “ Casting all youi care upon Him, for He careth for you.