broken beauty

I have written in the past
that when I went to the beach
I looked for "perfect" shells
and by-passed all broken ones

when we went to Laguna Beach in December
there was one morning, my specific shell collecting time, that I determined
I was not going to look for perfect shells
my purpose was to look for beauty in brokenness

it was,
obviously,
a success

I put all of these shells in a gallon ziploc bag,
separate from the other shells I collected
to bring them home and find a way to display them
as a visual reminder to appreciate the beauty in brokenness

while Ruth and I were shopping Monday I found two small shadow boxes
I bought them, planning to put the broken shells in one,
the "perfect ones" from this collection in the other
today I made that one of my projects to complete before nightfall

as I was sorting them this afternoon 
I was stopped short by a realization-
they are all broken

every. single. one.

some are easy to identify as broken because the brokenness is more obvious
but really, none of them are whole
the scallop shells are only half of what they should be
and for all of them, the life they once sheltered is absent

it made me think of people
all of us are broken
some of us are better at hiding it than others,
but we are all broken

we are all looking for wholeness

the only place we will find wholeness is in Jesus
it amazes me that the only One who is perfect
purposely choose us, 
even the most broken,

in Him, 
gathered together,
all of us "broken" people make a beautiful collection
He puts life into our empty shells

the obviously broken collection

is no less beautiful
than the "less" broken collection

"And this is the testimony: 

God has given us eternal life, 

and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life; 

whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

I John 5:11-12

This work in progress would be farther along
if the glass had not slid off the table and broke right before I brought it in the house.
Anyone else see my unintended smile?