My mother-in-law Jean Patton had a little African violet plant that she nurtured and cared for. In fact, I moved this violet with her multiple times – into a new apartment, into Assisted Living, into the in-law suite in my home. I don’t remember if the plant moved to the nursing home with her in 2008, but when she passed away in 2011, the little plant found a place in my home. It was a daily reminder of her and a way of honoring her influence in our lives.

Through many of these moves, this plant survived in a little terra cotta pot I had decorated with gold paint and some decoupaged magazine pages. Occasionally I fed it the African violet food that Jean left behind. Occasionally I forgot to water it, and it withered. But it always fought it’s way back. My mother would come to visit and marvel that the African violet was still blooming and thriving.

But this summer as I was adjusting the long main stem, it snapped. I quickly put it into a jar of water, hoping that new roots would grow. I couldn’t stand the thought of killing Jean’s legacy. Eventually new roots grew in the water and filled the glass jar. When I noticed new blooms, I decided it was time for a new pot.

But then I realized that I couldn’t put it back in the little terra cotta pot. It had outgrown that long ago. I had a new pot that matched my decor better, but other plants had struggled in that pot because it didn’t have good drainage. I didn’t want to doom the African violet to the same fate. I knew if I put it into that pot, I would need to fix the drainage issue.

Instead of throwing away the old, terra cotta pot, I took it out to the patio and crushed it. It broke into several pieces. I picked them up and put the in the bottom of the new pot. Hopefully, whatever elements in this pot that had kept the plant going all these years would be the foundation for many more.

I placed the pieces in the bottom of the new pot and mixed the old soil with new soil. I planted the thriving African violet in a new pot.

During the process, I heard God’s still small voice whisper the lesson to me. Sometimes God uses the broken pieces of something old to build the foundation for something new. When a dream shatters, it doesn’t mean that dream is no longer useful or that all the time you spent was wasted. In the hands of God, nothing is wasted.

In the hands of our Redeemer,
Nothing is wasted.

Jason Gray – Nothing is Wasted

God uses everything from your story – the good, the bad, and the ugly – to grow you into the person He has made you to be. The work I must continually do is to surrender the pieces to Him.

I couldn’t make the little violet whole after the main stem was broken. But I could put it in water to let the roots emerge. When we are broken, God provides places of healing where we can grow new roots and learn new ways of being. In the water, it’s easy. You don’t have to fight against the soil or work your way around rocks. God gives the basics – sunshine and water and rest.

But when the time is right, when the roots have grown and the new blooms are ready, God moves you to a new context. He takes everything that you have learned, the experiences you have gathered, and the new ways of being to begin a new work.

The broken dreams, the broken marriage, and your broken heart, provide what you need to be whole again. God doesn’t throw the old pieces in the trash. But sometimes He crushes that little pot, so that you can grow and thrive in a bigger pot – a different context, a new system. That old life doesn’t disappear, but it serves a different purpose and takes on a new form.

I can’t give you a timeline, and I can’t promise that it will be easy. What I can say is that it will be worth it. What you are going through today will lay the foundation for tomorrow. Like the violet, all you have to do is persevere. God, the ultimate, wise Gardener, will put you where you need to grow.