Look at this temple that soars to the sky
Now look a bit closer — do you see why?
The bright colours that adorn such lofty towers
Are fragments of glass no bigger than flowers
Once beautiful china, they were dumped in the sea
As worthless and broken, nothing to see
When I saw their beauty, and learned from whence it came
I reflected that life is somewhat the same
We all have our sorrows, failures, and wounds
That haunt our memories like shards of old spoons
If we nurse our regrets, our sorrows stay sharp
Whenever we think of them, they cut to the heart
If we give them to God, the artist of life
He transforms them into flowers, figures, and art
The divorce that left me hurt and alone
Left me free to explore where vulnerable children roam
On the day that I travelled to see Wat Arun
God led me to the school where they found a home
In fact, dear children, you’re the reason I came
But until God introduced us, I didn’t know your names
The sickness that left me unable to work
Has made me more sensitive to those who are hurt
The freedom I have let me care for my Mom
I wouldn’t trade anything for being there at the end
Some hurts, yes, I’m nursing, they still can draw blood
I should give them to the artist, and see what he does
I can’t fathom now how these pieces will fit
But the artist makes them beautiful, even though they can’t be fixed
It’s not just our successes, our strengths and our wins
That are useful to God in the designs that he spins
Sometimes he has to break a shard even more
To become the right shape for the picture in store
Don’t fret, my dear friend, if your life is now tattered
At the end you will see that nothing’s wasted in the pattern
of the beautiful picture God is making from you
Give the pieces to Jesus – he knows just what to do
January 20, 2019, after seeing Wat Arun, the temple of dawn, decordated with shards of broken porcelain. On that day — my first full day in Bangkok — God led me not to the temple, but to the Buddhist teacher, Hartanto, who founded the Community Learning Center for at-risk children there. It makes something beautiful of their lives, and enriched mine, as I sojourned with them a while.
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