I am ignored as if I were dead,
    as if I were a broken pot.
 I have heard the many rumors about me….
Psalm 31:12-13a (NLT)

I went through a divorce several years ago. Like most people who go through a divorce I never thought I’d end up there. It has been the single most difficult stretch of my journey.

People react in silly ways to divorce. I find this to be especially true in the church where I learned that one friend believes I “put my soul in jeopardy” by getting a divorce as if Jesus’ grace and forgiveness ends at the entrance to divorce court. A year or so ago I discovered that a leader in my church was uncomfortable having me involved in a particular role because of the scarlet letter “D” on my life’s resume’. Then there are the friends who have quietly chosen to walk away from their relationship with me. Like the song writer of today’s psalm, I’ve heard rumors through the years of what “they” say, and I have sometimes been made to feel like a broken pot.

I know I can’t control what others say and think. I know that it’s human nature for people to cast quick judgment. I know that God is the only judge with whom I need be concerned and I am being honest when I say that most of the time I could care less what other people say or think they know about me. Yet, it is equally true to admit that there are times when I really don’t like being made to feel like a broken, useless pot.

When I read the lyrics above, my mind went immediately to Jeremiah 18 when God told Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house. As Jeremiah watched, the potter took a marred pot and fashioned it into something new and useful. The central theme of God’s Message is that He takes broken, discarded and left for dead people and redeems them – fashioning them into something completely new and filling them with Life.

If you heard rumor that I am a divorced, broken and useless pot then I must inform you that what you’ve heard is completely true…

…you just haven’t heard the whole story.