I was recently introduced to the art of broken pot gardens. 

As the name suggests, broken pots are upcycled into mini tiered gardens. Using the pieces of broken pot to create retaining walls, steps and other features. Some are transformed into magical fairy gardens with toadstools and miniature houses. 

When a pot is broken we generally consider it useless. It can no longer fulfil its purpose.

But these broken pot gardens are such a beautiful metaphor for the way God works in the brokenness of our lives. And this metaphor was made all the more powerful for me given the context I was in when I heard it. 

I was observing a team serving in a Girls Juvenile Prison in Thailand. There were more than 20 girls in the session – most of them incarcerated for drug related offences, some for prostitution; some for theft. Two of them were pregnant, there were two mums breastfeeding babies. 

So much brokenness.

The leader spoke of how we can feel like our brokenness disqualifies us from a life of purpose. How it can seem our bad choices or things that have happened to us can render us useless or leave our life in pieces.

She showed pictures of the broken pot gardens. They were beautiful. Ornate. Lush and healthy. So creative and imaginative.

Brokenness isn’t the end of the story. Your brokenness can be turned into something beautiful. Your life may not look like it was anticipated to look but that doesn’t make it useless or worthless. 

Perhaps there’s a message in that for you today. What is being made of the broken pieces of your life? What beauty is being created to make something of the damage, wounding and disappointment?