Ever felt like a

S M A S H E D   P L A T E ?

S          H          E                      D          I          D

It was the Saturday before Halloween all the

W  A  Y

back in 2002

It was an all day retreat that I was contacted to do on

HOLY HELL

for a couple of Church groups that wanted to work through their

SMASHED PLATE SYNDROMES

S     H     E

was the one who contacted me; she was a Parish Nurse.

The day before the retreat, unbeknownst to me for these past 13 years,

S      H      E

had been diagnosed with MS.

I broke a plate using a monkey wrench

over and over again while asking:

“WHAT’S    YOUR    MONKEY    WRENCH ?  

I pointed out to the group that this was a harrowing sound as these smashed pieces jingled in the bag as I walked around the circle among where they were sitting.

I shared that this eery sound reminds us all of the one single day we celebrate every day of the year, sometimes with gusto:  HALLOWEEN

(Because of all of the varied and many masks we wear)

I told the group not to worry because psycho-sociologists have a remedy for this bag of broken pieces that sounds like a bag of chains with each step taken. . .

“PICK     UP      THE     PIECES     AND     GO     ON”

Problem:

WE STILL HAVE A BAG OF BROKEN PIECES!

B           U           T .    .    .

There’s a Universal law that every major Religion and all of the

N     O     N     E     S

agree:

ALL      THINGS      ARE      MADE       NEW

( Pssssssssst:  Which Spring doesn’t Prove THAT? )

I often tell every group I present before:

“I AM NOT HERE FOR THIS GROUP TODAY. . .I AM ONLY HERE FOR ONE, SINGLE PERSON. . .I JUST DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE OF YOU ?

Nearly Thirteen years later I found out it was

H     E     R

I conducted the funeral for a 95 year old gentleman I had never met before.  He was retired High-School Choral Teacher and there were many of his former students there.  I actually joked about what George Burns once said about getting THAT  old:

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PEER PRESSURE”

S     H     E

was the wife of the Choral Teacher’s grandson.

S     H     E

came up to me after the service and said,

“You probably don’t remember me.  But I hired you to come to a Church in 2002 to give an all day Seminar for a group of grieving people.  I was one of them.  I had just found out the day before that I had MS and I know it doesn’t show that much but I struggle every day.  My MRI is a mess and I was a terrible wreck that day with where my Life was headed with this terrible Detour I had just been told.  You smashed that plate, telling us that our Life has a way of meeting up not so well with Monkey Wrenches that get thrown into the middle of our living.  I felt like those broken pieces and just when I thought you were going to leave us with,  ‘PICK UP THE PIECES AND GO ON’  you showed us that there was something much better than trying to pick up the pieces and futilely attempting to put them back together, or just going on. . .You held up a brand new plate that was a replica of the one you had just smashed and boldly stated: 

BEHOLD. . .ALL THINGS BECOME NEW !”

With tears trickling down her face she said,  “That day. . .that moment. . .you transformed my life.  Can I give you a hug?”

“TODAY. . .I AM HERE FOR JUST ONE, SINGLE PERSON. . .I JUST DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE OF YOU?”

What. . .

What message are you giving. . .

What One, Single Person needs The Gift. . .

DESPERATELY NEEDS

The Gift of   Y  O  U,  today?

Sometimes, it may take as much as Thirteen years to find. . .

Sometimes, you may never find out. . .?

S      H      O      W              U      P

Do not Disappoint. . .THEM

G          I          V          E

even when you feel

like The Gift is Empty

or as if it’s

N O T H I N G. . . .

Throw a Monkey Wrench at Something bad to make something good. . .

SOMETHING   NEW !