Guest Post by Heather Duncan
Note from Melody: My dear friend and poet, Heather, penned this beautiful verse many years ago. One of the recent general conference talks captured similar imagery, suggesting that being broken is a natural state for mortality. It is a holy condition, a blessed condition. God often dwells there–in our broken places. Thanks to Heather for this gentle reminder.
God Loves Broken Things
Like clouds that break to quench the earth
and earth that breaks for grain to grow,
God loves the broken things of earth.
The hands that do the kneading know
good flour is made from broken grain
and earth must break for grain to grow.
There’s good in sorrow, grace in pain—
like supper graced by broken bread.
Good lives are made from broken grain,
and we are just as richly fed
by shattered life and broken heart
as supper graced by broken bread.
When we are broken, torn apart
he reaches out to make us whole—
each shattered life, each broken heart.
He weeps beside each grieving soul
like clouds that break to quench the earth.
His hands reach out to make us whole.
God loves the broken things of earth.
Heather Holland Duncan lives in Provo, Utah with five spirited children and an intensely affectionate golden retriever. She is a student at UVU, studying English literature, anthropology, and creative writing. Her chapbook, Mastering the Art of Joy, was published in 2011 as winner of the Edna Meudt Memorial Award. Her poems and essays have also appeared in The Found Poetry Review, Pulitzer Remix, Segullah, and Encore. Some of her favorite things are yoga, running, raspberries, trees, birds, and people.
Melody Newey
Melody earns a living as a registered nurse, grows a respectable garden, and writes when she's not building sheet forts with her grandkids. Her poetry has appeared in on-line journals, Segullah, Irreantum and small press along the Wasatch Front.
All posts by Melody Newey
While this is a wonderfully touching poem, I can’t help but think how close in content it appears to Kenneth Cope’s song “Broken” (from 2004). Not sure which one came out first. Nevertheless, the sentiment is spiritually uplifting.
Thanks you for sharing.
“He was experiencing what the earth may experience at the moment when it is opened by the plow so wheat may be sown; it feels only the wound; the thrill of the seed and joy of the fruit do not come until later.” Victor Hugo, Les Miserables p. 675.
I think universal, spiritual truths tend to be felt by each of us and are expressed in unique and individual ways. I love this quote. Thanks for sharing.
This is simply beautiful.