"My grace is enough; it's all you need. 
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

      The Message

For many weeks now I've been wanting to write about what I'm learning from creating art and this week it has become quite clear that God wants to teach me to feel blessed in the brokenness. I've used the phrase "blessed in brokenness" when I wanted to sound hip and mystical, making connections with the paradoxical reality of life and ministry. It sounds cool, but when we have to live through the brokenness and are faced with the challenges of repairing and redeeming them in real life situations, it's harder than I like to admit. When I read stories of friends and colleagues facing flood waters, or hear of family members health issues or unemployment challenges, or listen to stories of deep loss and grief, I have to admit that it is a struggle to find the blessing in it. 

The other day I was able to successfully transport a large stained glass window through traffic and countless potholes from the workshop I've been using for the past 8 months of Fridays to our local church in Santo Tomas without any breakage. After a full day of soldering and arranging seven smaller windows into one large one, I was covering it up so no one could see it until it's big reveal later this year. I reached over to grab a string to tie up the material and in a split seconds time I leaned onto what now looked like a table and heard a distinct crack. Though hardly noticeable to the untrained eye, the fracture will need to be repaired to ensure the integrity of the whole. 

A few months ago, the kitchen table that our family created from broken pieces of ceramic was being moved from one room to another and was dropped causing bubbles under the surface and loosening many of the pieces. Though the damage only took a few seconds to occur, it took weeks of cleaning, scraping and re-cementing to bring it back to it's original, yet somewhat changed beauty. 

At the beginning of this year, I lead the Costa Rican Baptists in a participatory art process during their annual gathering. Together we created three art pieces to represent the 5 year plan of evangelism, discipleship and new works that will guide the churches into the next few years. On the evangelism piece, we "planted seeds" into clay tiles to represent the seeds of the Gospel sown into our lives. When all of the pieces were finished I hung them at the Federation offices and everyone was pleased to see the fruits of our communal labor. A couple of weeks later, I arrived at the offices to find the evangelism piece in the hallway with a box of broken tiles next to it. The hook I had used to hang it was not strong enough to withstand the weight of the piece. So faced with the challenge of remaking the piece, I asked the folks from the national office to 'replant" the new tiles with new seeds. While these replacement tiles were drying, the office mice discovered a tasty treat, destroying our creation. Our third attempt to restore our art was more successful since we found a place to store them away from our furry friends, but in the drying process the tiles broke apart. After much glue and patience, I was able to finally re-cement the tiles to the piece and find a more substantial hook to hang the artwork, completing the set of three now gracing the office space as a tangible expression of redemption. 

So, what is God trying to teach me through these artistic, creative and frustrating experiences? Brokenness happens. It is a part of everyday life. I can choose to throw away the pieces and move on or pick them up and allow God to make something new and even more beautiful with them. Repair and redemption are costly and time-consuming and frustrating at times, but worth the effort. It only takes a short time to break something, or a harsh word to wound a friend or damage a relationship, but it takes a lot longer and demands more effort and commitment to repair or redeem that which is broken in our lives. God continues to teach me that grace is enough, whether I've got broken places in me or not. When I'm weak and don't know what else to do, God reshapes and remolds me into more than I ever expected. Humbleness and openness come from brokenness, if I allow God to touch the tender places and heal them, I can in turn help in the healing of those around me. 

Thank you for sharing in our journey here, for your companionship in repairing that which is not right in our world, for going the distance with us and God's people we've been called to serve here in Costa Rica. We are not whole without you.

Discovering the blessing in the brokenness,

Mylinda