Plate Smashing.

You know the tradition of plate smashing? It is very common in the history of Greek culture. If you look up plate smashing on google many different traditions pop up. From good luck for a newly wed couple to smashing plates into a fire pit after a banquet so dishes do not have to be done. Some cultures have used plate smashing to deal with mourning the loss. Plate smashing can demonstrate getting frustration out, sometimes it sounds good to just break something in the moment of frustration or anger. It can be used as a tool to understand someone else's life. I have written all my hopes and dreams on a plate at a work meeting before and then was told to go outside and throw it against a brick wall and watch it shatter. Watch all my hopes and dreams shatter. That was a tool to understand what the families that I was working with were going through. Plate smashing can be used to overcome something, writing on a plate some feelings or a situation and then watching it shatter can really help overcome that situation.

I really like smashing plates. I am a very visual person, so seeing something physically shatter means something to me.

Although lately I feel like the plate. I feel like I have been thrown at a brick wall. I feel shattered. I feel like I am laying on hot cement in many pieces. I have been broken. I have been hurt. I have been crushed.

Man threw me at the wall. Human.

Oh wait one of my bigger pieces that didn’t break into many pieces is being picked up. Does this mean that I am going to get put back together as best as possible, oh NO! I just got thrown at the wall again. There is no big pieces left. I am completely shattered by a brick wall.

That brick wall is Man. Human.

I am on the burning cement just crying out. Crying so much pain and so much hurt. I ache. My whole body is in pain, broken on the ground.

Oh ouch, I just got stepped on. Awesome. Thank you for that!

Man just stepped on me. Human.

Didn’t you see me here? Didn’t you human see that I have been crushed and shattered on this cement. Did you notice that its summer time? So not only am I in pain and completely broken, I am really hot, and am burning up from the sun. The sun is taking all my energy out. I am tired, I am drained, and I am hurt. Didn’t you see me here? Because if you did and stepped on me anyway, that was super rude! I would really love it if you picked me up! Then at least I would just be broken and maybe not as exhausted from the heat of the sun.

Why am I asking Man for help? Why am I thinking a human can put me back together? Why am I surprised that Man hurt me? Completely shattered my feelings and left me there with not so much as an “I am sorry”.

Why am I not looking to Jesus for help and instead am asking Man for help? What can Man do for me? I need Jesus. I need his healing and his encouragement. I need to share my heart with him and be completely vulnerable with him. I need to run to his arms for comfort.

I have found comfort in his word,
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
-Deuteronomy 31:6He goes ahead of me. He knows what is going to happen before I do, and He will never fail me and He will never abandon me. I am not alone, He is with me. I do not have to be afraid. He will carry me and give me his strength when I have no strength of my own. He can pick me up off the burning cement when I don’t have the strength to get up on my own. I am not alone.

I just want to end with a prayer for anyone who has every felt like a shattered plate before. Anyone who has been hurt by Man.

Lord, I pray for everyone who reads this and feels like a shattered plate. I pray that as they lay there so hurt and broken that they look up to you and call out to you. I pray that they feel your love and are captivated by your understanding for what they are going through. For you understand pain. You were betrayed by Man and you were physically beaten and killed by Man. You understand the brokenness that Man can do to one another.

Lord, you empower us with your strength for Psalms 18: 32-35 says,

“God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great.”

In this time when we feel so weak and so broken, remind us of your strength and how you give us your strength. We can do all things in you! We can get up off this hot cement, broken and weak in Your name! Thank you for your love. Thank you for your strength. Thank you for hearing my cry. Continue to strengthen us in this hurt time we are in. We may not understand why we are in this broken season. We may not understand the beauty from ashes you will bring from this. Although we may not see these things, let us see You and Your glory. Let us feel your love and your understanding for our pain. We love you Jesus!
Amen.
Mended by Angie Smith is a great book for anyone that needs some extra encouragement to know you are not alone and not the only one who has felt broken.

xoxo

Lent.

Ash Wednesday.

Lent as I know is the forty days leading up to Easter Day. It starts on a Wednesday which is observed as Ash Wednesday. The purpose of Lent is to posture yourself in acts of prayer and repentance of sins as you acknowledge the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To posture yourself for prayer and repentance, many Christians fast for the forty days. This fasting is to be able to make more time to reflect on Jesus. Reflect on his suffering, sacrifice, his crucifixion and his resurrection.

I have personally never participated in Lent before. I have fasted for a few days here and there in the past for different reasons in the season of life I was in, but I have never sat aside time before Easter to really reflect on Jesus and all that he did for me.

This year my friend Sheila brought it up. I looked into Lent and read about what it truly meant. I am about to become a mom to a beautiful baby boy! I haven’t seen him yet, but every little one of his hiccups I feel inside me makes me picture how beautiful he already is and is going to be. My due date is in 56 days. I have this countdown in three different places in my house to remind me that the exciting time of meeting him is coming soon! When I was looking into Lent I saw that it is 40 days. This stirred in my heart a different countdown. Thousands of years ago Jesus’ countdown to his death was in 40 days! What would it be like to know you only have 40 days before one of your best friends that you walk life with every day betrays you and then you have to go through one of the slowest and most painful executions there is? I am counting down to an exciting day, that will have pain involved, but nothing like a crucifixion!

So with my personal countdown and the countdown to Easter (Lent) being so close in numbers I was really drawn to participate this year in setting extra time aside to acknowledge these last 40 days of my King’s life, and really thank him for the huge sacrifice he laid down for me.

I am doing Lent with three of my best friends, and my Husband is also going to do it. I committed to giving up social media before 6pm. That gives me all day to posture myself in prayer and repentance. To really listen and take in everything Jesus did for me thousands of years ago. And then after 6pm I can still post pictures of my pregnant belly for my friends and family to see.

I hope to really grow in this season of Lent. To really take in his heartbreaking story and gain thankfulness. I hope to write more about what I gain insight on during this time and share with you. I am really excited about this time!

Are you going to do Lent? It started today, but you can still be a part of it! What are you fasting? What do you hope to gain in this season leading up to Easter Sunday?

xoxo