When I was reading in my Bible this morning, I was in the passage in Acts where Paul is being taken to Rome for judgement and the ship is wrecked near the island of Mileta. I read the verse that told the men who could swim to jump ship and head to land and then the rest clinged to boards and broken pieces of the ship and all made it safely to shore. It struck me as I read, that often times it is the broken pieces we cling to that get us through. Sometimes they can be our life line, our buoy that keeps us afloat.
When things in our lives are shattered, sometimes all we can do is pick up those pieces and start trying to put them back together. This alone can help distract us from the tragedy of the moment and help to stabilize us for a time. Some of those pieces may be pictures, memories, possessions, treasured keepsakes, relationships, etc. Clinging to these can help our hearts and minds to heal as we go about our daily lives. When my mom died three years ago, pictures, memories in my mind, letters and cards in her handwriting, home movies were and are some of the things I cling to that help keep me afloat. I also have my niece Amelia that is a joy to be around but also is bitter sweet because I often watch her and think how much my mom would have loved her. Staying busy with day to day chores help to keep me afloat as Bob and I wait out this time he must be away to work. I feel very broken these days but have ever since April. Even though life has gone on (as it always does no matter how badly you want it to stop for awhile), I still don't feel quite stabilized and like my feet are back under me firmly. I still feel a little lost but I am doing my best to rely on the firm foundation of God and His Word. Still, clinging to the broken pieces floating around my life helps me.
Another thing I'd like to address is that broken pieces of anything can sometimes be sharp and dangerous and possibly even be something to let go of and not cling to so that you don't have further breakage in your life. We must decide what things are worth hanging on to and what things are not. Sometimes this decision is hard. People for the most part do not like major change. ...Even though we women do get bored with ourselves and our houses and routines at times and go for the makeovers or rearranging the house or whatever, we still don't like change that comes suddenly and that we haven't chosen!
If you have recently had some shattering in your life, cling to the things that help keep you afloat.
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