Sunday 1 September 2013

Locusts and tea-cups, the little things.

This rather lovely cup, saucer, and plate:
remind me of this promise :
                    'I will restore the years the locusts have eaten' (Joel 2:25) 
and of the most violent thing I never did.

I am rather attached to crockery - sad, but true - I always prefer tea out of a beautiful and/or funky mug/cup and if I regularly visit someone I very soon have a preferred vessel to drink from. One day, though, I smashed my favourite mug. I meant to just pour the hot tea away but I smashed it instead. I did it in frustration and have regretted it ever since (it was a beautiful mug that was now in pieces, too many to be repaired just like the state of affairs that led to its destruction) but I was at least glad that the anger was taken out on the mug and not on the person who precipitated the action. 

A couple of Christmases ago a friend took me to our regular Sunday market and told me to chose a trio from the vintage china stall. I found this. It is so similar to the broken mug that it caused a wry smile to arise within me; I remembered the promise that I had been given repeatedly during a difficult few years of my life. It's the little things, not just the big ones, He really does restore that which was taken, broken down, eradicated, obliterated - and even smashed - through words, actions, inaction and He gives back more than was taken. 

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