Broken Things
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada. It is Thanksgiving week and I have a very familiar hymn for Thanksgiving. Sing it if you know it. Here we go…
“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His name; He forgets not His own.”
Now that sounds a little pious, a little high church, so unfamiliar to the sort of thing we sing nowadays, but it’s not the tune that counts. It’s the message, and that’s always in style. This Dutch hymn was written in fact, in the 1500’s, and it became a hymn of thanksgiving when the pilgrims brought it over from the Netherlands. They had experienced great trials, much loss, suffering; yet through all of that, they wanted to sing about God’s blessings. And you know, isn’t it true? Wouldn’t you agree? That’s often the story behind giving thanks. It seems that gratitude feels, I don’t know, more gratitude feels when you express it out of suffering. I vividly recall Thanksgiving Day in 2010 when I was just finishing up chemotherapy in my battle against stage 3 cancer. It was still early on, and we did not know if my treatment would be successful. So, it sure did make Thanksgiving so much more meaningful. We were so grateful that at least at that point I was alive; that I had made it through surgery and chemo. And that I was at least healthy enough to sit up around the dinner table that day to take a deep breath and express my thanks to friends and family for all their prayers. Oh my goodness, and especially for my husband who was my biggest champion through all the pain. That Thanksgiving Day was so sweet, so precious and poignant, much more so than most Thanksgiving Days. Isn’t it odd how brokenness really helps you count your blessings? Really makes you grateful.
To commemorate this, a friend made a special cross for me. She had placed, in the wet plaster of paris, small pieces of broken china, all different colors and some pieces with gold trim. And because the cross was made of shattered things, of broken china, it just meant so much. It was a reminder that Christ is building His kingdom with earth’s broken things—broken people. People want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms but God? He is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed, of those who have suffered and suffered deeply. Of those who are broken, heaven is filling with earth’s broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty.
Hey, I’ve posted a photo of that cross made of shattered things on my radio page today. Take a look at it, if you have time, at joniandfriend.org/radio. A beautiful reminder for all the brokenness in your life, for all the suffering and hardship you’ve endured this year, may God overflow your heart with a spirit of deep gratitude. Whether your family has been through cancer this year, or a deep financial setback; maybe you live in Texas or Louisiana and you’re still trying to recover from hurricane Harvey. Maybe you live in Florida and you are still trying to recover from hurricane Irma. Whatever the loss and brokenness you’ve experienced, I pray God will fill your heart with the wonderful blessings of His peace and His joy on this special day. Heaven is filling with Earth’s broken lives, and you’re one of them. That’s something to be grateful for, so Happy Thanksgiving!
Music: “We Gather Together” text by Theodor Baker, tune by Edward kremser; Public Domain
© Joni and Friends
