It was just one of those mornings. I was rushing to get breakfast on the table and the kids dressed and ready for school. I poured my second cup of perfectly brewed coffee, added my favorite peppermint mocha cream, gave it a swirl and was ready to indulge.  I picked up my cup and hustled to the table.  When I turned around I made the corner a little too quickly.  As I bumped into the wall, my coffee mug slipped from my hand in slow motion and exploded onto my freshly cleaned hardwood floor.  A flood of emotions swirled inside me like a rushing wind blows through the leaves of the forest.  I was instantly irritated at the mess I had to clean up, as if I wasn’t already running late.  I was angry that my favorite coffee mug would now have to go into the trashcan in a million pieces.  As I harshly wiped up the mess, I couldn’t help but feel like this day might call for an entire pot of coffee by the time I actually got things in order. I could have laughed or I could have cried, but instead I took a deep breath and murmured to myself not to stress over spilled milk.  Ha!  Whoever came up with that must have never shattered their favorite coffee mug and spilled their fresh hot coffee.  As I continued to clean, my heart was pierced with the reality that the mess on the floor was not the mess I needed to be concerned with. The feelings swirling inside my heart and head where much more life altering than a spilled cup of coffee.

Life is full of moments that shatter us and cause our hearts to feel overwhelmed with emotions that are difficult to control.  I am thankful that rather than tossing me in the trashcan, God miraculously takes my remnants and molds them into more than I could ever imagine.  He is always faithful to put together the broken pieces and make something that can be used for his glory.

The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.  Jeremiah 18:1-4

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.  Isaiah 64:8

Rather than stressing over the daily circumstances of life, I need to focus on the only one who can mend the shattered pieces of my mind, heal my broken heart, forgive my foolish sins, and make something out of my big mess. If you ever feel like a hot mess, allowing life to irritate you and drive you into an irrational craze, God can calm you down, clean you up, put you back together, and make you useful again.  Don’t stay a shattered mess.  Take a deep breath and allow God to put the pieces together for His glory.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23