Monday, May 15, 2006

Broken Things To Mend

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. My son made me three cards (including one that he signed, "love, Jacob Oakes") and told me I was "the best mom in the whole world." He made me a little potted plant in preschool, and is very proud of it. He also sang his heart out with the Primary children in church, as they sang special songs like, "Mother, I Love You". His little face beaming at me while he sang was even more precious than the nice Coach watch that his daddy gave me! My husband also made sure I was treated to breakfast in bed and Sunday dinner (including dishwashing service) without my having to lift a finger. My daughter's gift to me was mastering the word, "Mama" - which she repeated loudly throughout our church service. It was a fun day.

Another treat I had yesterday was the re-discovery of a general conference talk given by one of the leaders of our church, Jeffrey R. Holland (who happened to be the president of BYU when I was a student there). The talk (which is now an Ensign magazine article) was called, "Broken Things To Mend" (You can click on the title to view the article.)

In the article there is a wonderful poem, called, "The Carpenter of Nazareth":

In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench, beside Him, lay
Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,
Said, “Can you mend it, Carpenter?”

And each received the thing he sought,
In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;
The broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:

“O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This heart, that’s broken past repair,
This life, that’s shattered nigh to death,
Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?”

And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives, until they stand
A New Creation—“all things new.”

“The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,
Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,
Mould Thou into the perfect part,
O, Carpenter of Nazareth!”

- George Blair, “The Carpenter of Nazareth”

1 comment:

Naturegirl said...

Love love love the poem! :) Have you been to Corey's site yet? I have her as one of my links...a very inspirational site. She too has been "to the edge" with cancer.