Bits and Pieces

Whenever my wife gets home from shopping, she kicks off her shoes.  I wear mine from “can’t to can’t,” as my dad would say—from the time I can’t see in the morning until I can’t see at night.  I only take them off then I go to bed.  All three of my kids and their spouses take off their shoes whenever they visit.

Why am I boring you with all this?

One evening, while getting myself a glass of water, I dropped the glass on the kitchen floor, and it shattered into bits and pieces.  Sharp shards were everywhere.  Immediately, I thought about my wife’s bare feet.  What a clumsy move!  I was upset with myself, wondering if I would be able to sweep up all the bits and pieces scattered across the floor.

So far, so good—no cut feet.

Thinking back, and hoping my wife and kids wouldn’t step on a piece of glass I had missed, it reminded me of the times I mistreated people with bits and pieces of my own brokenness—not in good ways.  I was unhappy and took it out on most everyone around me.  As they say, “I was not a happy camper.”

It seemed that life was throwing me nothing but lemons.  And in the state of mind I was in, I was not ready—or even willing—to make lemonade.  I was plagued with discontentment each and every day.  My whole mind, body, and spirit were suffering.

I needed a drink of clean, refreshing water to wash away the sour taste of sin that lingered in my mouth, so to speak.  Peace of mind and steadfastness in the face of adversity were missing.  I was like a dead man walking—not able to rid myself of the stench that followed me everywhere.  It was the rotten smell of sin.

Try as I might, in my own strength, I couldn’t escape the habits that possessed my better judgment.  This boy was in bondage.

Bits and pieces of sin seemed to mound up like you would see at a city dump—stinking to high heaven.  But in my case, the One in heaven was not pleased with my lifestyle.  How could I even hope to find lasting peace while living in the pigpen of disobedience?

It wasn’t until I realized that temporary pleasures were void of what I really needed that I turned my attention to the One whom Scripture calls the Prince of Peace—Jesus Christ.

When I asked God to forgive my sins, all of those bits and pieces of shards that were cutting my heart into shreds were swept away, just like the time I swept the kitchen floor to remove the bits and pieces of the vessel I had broken.

Jesus mended my brokenness and made me a whole vessel in Him, without all the sharp edges that kept me in pain.  In doing so, I am less likely to hurt those around me because of the smoothing-out process of becoming a born-again Christian.

God is helping me not to offend or hurt others, replacing the odor of sin with the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

God threw away the shards of sin—all the bits and pieces, big and small—casting them into the depths of the sea, never to remember them again.  What an amazing God we serve, who is willing to forgive us and cast our sins into the depths of the sea!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

"...He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.  He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities.  You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." — Micah 7:18-19

Written by,

Papa Boyd