Broken Pieces

Do you love new beginnings as much as I do?  I get very excited at the thought of a new venture, and a new year always brings hopes and dreams for good things to come.  It's wonderful to have a chance to start again, isn't it?  Last year is in the history books and some of us are very glad, indeed.  We might think it was a terrible year.  But, as so often happens, give it a little time and we might just find ourselves thinking of it as "the good old days!"


As the year drew to a close, I found myself dealing with situations and some trials, I hadn't wished for - how about you?  In my case, I somehow managed to tear a meniscus in my knee which left me suddenly out of a job, walking with a cane, unable to drive, walk or stand for long, and in a good deal of pain!  Reminder to self.  Do not EVER do this again!


February 1st is the scheduled date of surgery to repair this little irritation, and I cannot wait!  Amazing how a little "mishap" like this can change a person's life!  The temporary losses that went along with this injury tempted me to spend endless hours bemoaning my fate.  How could this happen to me?  Why did this happen to me?  Will anything good ever happen again?!  Did anything good happened at all in 2011? Yes, I am often given to melodrama and can easily get the needle stuck on the 'poor, poor me' image constantly dancing in my head.  Pain and suffering can do that to me - I know you probably don't have that problem, but, alas, I am very inclined in that direction!


I say all that to say this.  In the end, as I looked back over the year that was leaving us, I realized I would have to deliberately, intentionally, look beyond the circumstances of my pain and misfortune, to search out the blessings of the year.  Were there any?  Did they equal the negative side of the ledger, since I was tempted to only track my many trials and tribulations in 2011?  I seriously doubted it, but I was willing to take a passing stab at the possibility that, maybe, just maybe, the Lord had thrown a few blessings my way that I might have overlooked!  


This was the turning point - once I sat me down and gave me a little talking to (it was difficult, but I did it!) the blessings I began to recall so far outweighed the trials that I was amazed at the goodness of God!  I awakened from my pity induced slumber to realize, had I not followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to LOOK FOR THE BLESSINGS, I would never have seen them!  Lesson learned - look beyond the trial.  There are blessings in the broken pieces of our lives.  Too many to count.  Too many to forget.  Too many to fail to thank Him for today.


I don't know what's ahead in 2012, anymore than you do, of course.  But, my prayer for you (and me!) is that, should we find ourselves broken by life's circumstances in the coming year, we will lean into the Lord, and ask Him to take us by the hand and walk with us through it all.  Here's a beautiful old song, written by one of my Daddy's favorites, Tommy Dorsey.  This song was written after he had suffered the tragic loss of his young wife and baby in child birth.  Out of those "broken pieces" came this beautiful song that has been a blessing to countless numbers of people over the years.  May we never forget to look inside the trials life brings our way and find the blessings.  And thank Him for it all...

P.S.  I would so much appreciate your prayers for successful surgery and a full recovery in the 
coming year.  I thank you and, trust me, my children will thank you more than you can even imagine! :)