Shattered Remains

Shattered Remains
By Marilyn Mackenzie

Ice crystals lay scattered on the ground in front of me, reminding me of shattered glass. They reminded me, too, of shattered lives.

Neither glass nor lives can be fully repaired once they are savagely broken. Even the best craftsman, the best repairer of broken glass, cannot fully mend what has shattered. Tiny cracks may still be visible, if only by using a magnifying glass. Won’t those cracked places remain weakened? Won’t breaking the glass be easier next time, because of the weakened places?

I smiled as I realized that we cannot heal our shattered lives alone. However, our own determination, combined with the love and strength of the one who created us, does make our mending complete. The Master Craftsman can make our lives new again.

I wondered why when I saw those ice crystals, I didn’t think of more beautiful or happy thoughts. Many would have, for ice and snow crystals can be beautiful. They sparkle as the sun hits, and at close glance, each shows its uniqueness.

Am I not impressed with sparkling ice pieces because with them comes the cold I dreaded when I lived in the midst of winter winds?

Are my thoughts of winter combined, somehow, with the remembrance of how my life shattered when I once lived in Michigan?

I smiled, finally, knowing that the Master Craftsman has, indeed, taken my cracked pieces and fashioned a new and better me. And, as I looked once more at the ground in front of me, the ice crystals began to glisten as the sun touched them.

I saw the beauty of that cold ice. God is good.