David S. McLeod,
The University of Kansas,
Undergraduate Biology Program

[May 6, 2012]–

I have had the pleasure of spending this semester in Hamburg, Germany on a sabbatical research fellowship. It has been a wonderful time of learning, exploration, and discovery.

Living only a short distance from my host university my daily walk to work takes me past a most unusual storefront. It is a ceramics repair shop where I have watched the artists repairing peoples’ broken treasures. The shop is littered with vases, sculptures, plates, and other objects of varied description with one thing in common: they are broken, chipped, cracked, and flawed. One piece, however, has really caught my eye.

Ready for the Trash Bin

In the window of the shop is a white porcelain vase. Nearly all the pieces are there, although the vase is completely broken. I imagine it tumbling from a mantle or slipping through wet fingers, crashing to the floor. Some would have swept up the many pieces and thrown them away, but this was obviously someone’s treasure. Rather than discard it, they picked up the pieces and held them together with small bandages.

As I walk past the window each day it reminds me that I too am broken. My colleagues, my students, my family—we are all broken. We are all worthy of the trash bin, but Someone cares enough about us that He wants to save us from this fate and restore us completely.

Not a DIY Project

We are inclined to try to “fix” ourselves. Our attempts, however, are less than satisfactory and often we end up held precariously together with what amounts to band-aids, tape, and sloppy glue jobs. Like the vase in the window, we’re probably even missing a piece or two when we finish our self-fix. What we need is One who can put us back together perfectly, seamlessly, better than new.

We know that God, who saved us from the trash bin, is the only one capable of really putting us back together. He is more than the artist who can fix us. He created us and thus, He alone can heal and restore to the fullness of the treasure He intended us to be.

If that vase were mine, sitting again on the mantle at home, I’d be sure to tell people about the one who fixed it. Valuing the vase enough to save it, I’m certain I’d be inclined to share its story with anyone who paused long enough to hear me. Since we’re all broken and we all need to be repaired, shouldn’t we . . . shouldn’t I . . . be telling anyone and everyone about the One who can heal and restore?

Restoration

I’m reminded of II Cor. 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Isn’t it amazing that God would fill us, fragile earthen vessels, with the Holy Spirit and the good news of the Gospel of Christ?

Therein lies our only hope for restoration. Christ — a willing, broken vessel. Broken for us and then wholly restored by the same God that offers to do the same for us.

(c) 2012 David McLeod
photo (c) David S. McLeod