Walking on Broken Glass

I spent a day walking on broken glass.

After driving through a run-down industrial area, I walked with broken glass under my bare feet as I searched the landfill for bits of treasure. An odd way to spend a day of my vacation in the Hawaii? Perhaps. But, things are not always what they seem.

This “landfill” was a small sandy beach bordered by volcanic rock. Waves crashed. The jewel-toned waters swirled with milky foam. The sand, a rainbow of colors. Volcanic black, tan, and flecks of color. Sea glass. Under my feet were bits of broken glass tossed and buffed in the ocean until it was deposited smooth and colorful on the shore for treasure hunters like me to to dig through. Brown, amber, bottle green, aquamarine, blues, and if you get a truly rare find, red.

My long-suffering husband joined me on the hunt. Ocean breezes took the sting out of the mid-day Hawaiian sun. Most of the pieces are tiny, mere grains of sand, but others are larger, little translucent pebbles.

After wandering our own ways for a while, I walked over and sat beside him. “Funny isn’t it, that we are sitting here digging through trash.”

“Trash?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you know? These are things that were broken, thrown away.”

The attraction is irresistible. Sharp pieces of glass go into the ocean garbage, but through some unseen process come out from the waters as something crowds of people come to search through. Truly beautiful. No two pieces alike.

Irresistible perhaps, because this is us. We are all a little cracked when we arrive on this planet with our individual weaknesses and predispositions. Then, life seems to exploit our vulnerabilities, and at our moment of breaking instead of comfort we feel tossed into a raging sea.

Why would a loving God allow these things? This pain. This setback. This loss. Why are we overlooked when we feel that we should have stood out? Thrown out, when we should have been cherished, handled carefully.

Maybe it is because things are not what they seem.

What if the trial isn’t your undoing, but instead is your becoming? What if your pain, setback, frustration, or loss is your polishing process to become the very thing you were meant to be all along. What if in those hard moments your perseverance is unlocking the treasure, the potential that has been there from the beginning?

People are watching how you come through your breaking point. You who lean on Christ and His grace are becoming treasure that other people flock to. They want for themselves what you have, what you are. There is no one else quite like you, and you are beautiful. They marvel at the mystery of someone going into the raging sea as broken, but coming out as something new. Transformed. A new birth into who you always were. You just didn’t know it yet.

A shard of glass going into the rough Hawaiian waves, coming out as seas glass…now that’s a baptism if I’ve ever seen one.

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

James 1:2,3 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for  great joy. For you know that the your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

Congrats to Jacqueline G, winner of the sea glass locket!

 Hope Perch Sea Glass Locket Giveaway
Guys, thanks for reading along with me on my writing journey. I’m placing some sea glass from my finds in a one inch glass pocket watch style locket to be given away to one winner. I hope it will serve as a reminder of the beautiful way that even the most trying of circumstances can transform us into something beautiful.