This one was inspired by a fellow believer and coworker of mine. She mentioned to me one day that she likes to collect broken sea shells whenever she's at the beach and take them home to create something out of them. I thought of that conversation one night and this is what came from it... enjoy! :)
They're only broken pieces
found along a battered beach
what used to shine in hues of blue and pink
are now a dull and dusty gray.
Hundreds pass the fragments by
in search of better things,
but if they only knew the value
in shards through which an ocean sings.
A tourist is made a fool
collecting those pieces in the sand
and the native can't help but give advice
"They're only pieces, hardly worth a second glance!"
But then she laughs.
A joyous sound
and the native wonders who he's found.
But she only tells him that he's missing out,
for she's the one that's been given the gift
of jagged, crooked pieces,
of which lying on the sand are hardly fit.
Polish them up and shine them bright,
she says they make a beautiful sight.
For placed together
those pieces are made whole.
She says He's given her many such gifts,
little wonders to behold.
The native shakes his head and walks away
muttering under his breath.
Ignorant tourist,
picking up trash…
Her laughter echoes back across the grainy shore.
He looks back once.
Just once, no more.
Then he bends and drags a piece from the gritty stuff,
gives it a swipe of his shirt
a quick little buff.
Still gray, still dusty and ugly.
He almost drops it then and there,
but the water is only feet away.
A last ditch effort to prove her right,
he dips it down and gives it a shake
and when it emerges
his frown finally breaks.
Sparkling blue swirling with pink,
it's only a piece,
but when he holds it to his ear
the ocean almost speaks.
It sings with her laughter caught when he dipped it under…
and he swears he hears her very own words.
One of God's little wonders.
"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."
~ Genesis 1:31
