Stained Glass Windows

Pieces of shattered glass lay everywhere on the table, looking for all the world like a heap of rubbish, destined for the nearest trash can. They were jagged pieces, apparently cut and broken without thought or care, and the beauty of the colored glass seemed hopelessly marred and wasted.

But, what looks like ruin and destruction to the eyes of a casual onlooker, is the substance of hope to the eye of the designer, that will someday be a thing of beauty under their hand. Far from careless, every break, every cut, every strain was administered with gentle hands and great care. Indeed, not a needless blow was placed, not a single strain put on the glass that was not necessary to transform it, and by and by, the work of the designer is complete.

The shattered looking glass is gone. The brokenness is replaced with a beauty that far surpasses anything that could have been imagined. Those very blows placed on the glass that seemed to destroy it, turned it from an ordinary pane into a masterpiece: a stained glass window.

Pieces of our broken dreams, shattered hopes and aspirations lay everywhere, looking for all the world to us like a whole lot of useless pieces rubbish, destined to fade away and leave behind only a few haunting reminders of what we once treasured more than anything else. It almost seemed like all those blows that brought destruction to what we had built our lives around were careless, cruel and meaningless, and the pain blinds from our eyes the Designer, stooping low, picking up those broken pieces, seeing beyond the apparent uselessness to what He can create if we would let Him have those pieces, shattered and hopeless as they might seem.

Then, under the skill of that Master-Hand, He transforms the brokenness into beauty, and with His light behind it, that stain glass window–those former broken dreams and shattered hopes–are changed into the glowing pattern of His own choosing and design.

It is then that we realize, as we never may have realized before, that the blows that we thought were aimed by Satan to destroy us, God used to build us up, to make something beautiful out of the broken pieces. And not a blow did He allow that was not for the better in the end. All that time, His hand was at work, turning apparent evil into something beautiful, something good.

“It is amazing what God can do with a broken heart… if we let Him have all the pieces.”

There is nothing too broken for God to transform. Nothing too shattered for Him to use. It takes time to heal the wounds.  The dreams may change. The hopes, plans and aspirations we held dear may not remain the same, but from those broken pieces He creates something new.  He transforms brokenness into beauty, more than we could have ever begun to imagine or dream or hope for, more beautiful even than the stained glass window.