Beauty For Brokenness

Recently I met Mark Taylor, a hospital Chaplain. He told us he does a lot of work with teenagers who are in the psychiatric ward. On his days off, he likes to walk along the Norfolk beaches and pick up pieces of sea glass, which he keeps in a jar on his desk at work.

He told us he tips out these pebbles onto the desk, and invites these fragile young people to talk about them - the colour, shape, feel...He explains that these were once bottles, which got smashed, then were rolled about in the stones and sand by the waves as the tide comes and goes. It takes around 10 years for a broken shard of glass to become a frosted pebble. He says
IMAGINE what it feels like to have been valued and whole
IMAGINE what it feels like to have been thrown away, bashed about by the waves and storms of life
IMAGINE what it feels like to be lost on a beach, or in the depths of the oceans
AND THEN...ONE DAY...somebody finds you, picks you up, sees beauty in your brokenness - and treasures you for what you have become, not for what you once were.

He invites the young men and women to choose a pebble to take away with them after their conversation. Mark has written this powerful poem. I pray that these teenagers may be helped by his gentle words of affirmation.

SEA GLASS

I once was part of a vessel that was beautiful or useful

Yet I’ve been broken, dashed against the rocks,
        and tossed about by the waves

My brokenness, cracks and rough edges are worn smooth

Now I’m small and fragile,

        found by your searching eyes upon the shore

Once again I am a thing of beauty

        still fragile and vulnerable

Hold me in the safety of your hand,

        and see my beauty again

[Pastor Mark Taylor]