Broken and Poured Out, but not Wasted

"And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, 'Why was this fragrant oil wasted?'" - Mark 14:3

"Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” - John 12:3-4

Do you wonder where your gifts lie? Where it is that God's "anointing" rests upon you? Then I would ask you: "Where have you been broken?" The alabaster flask that Mary brought to the Lord contained something very precious; indeed, a "costly" oil, the scriptures say; and as John tells us, everyone in the house was blessed with the fragrance of that oil. But the blessing did not come until the flask was broken and the oil was poured out. 

Where have you been broken? Where have you been wounded? Where are you being poured out? Some would say that your brokenness represents a waste, a waste of years, a waste of talent, a waste of life, a waste of what might have been used for other things: things more appropriate in the sight of men. It's more than likely that you feel this way yourself, when you look back on the years of your life. Your brokenness has cost you much, more than anyone other than the Lord Himself can understand. But it is in that very brokenness that the oil - that which has cost you so much - is poured forth, and all around you may be blessed by its fragrance. 

How long did Jesus carry the scent of the oil that Mary poured out on Him? The fragrance that filled the air in Simon's house ("Simon the leper," mind you; one who was known for a dreaded disease) must have lingered on Jesus for quite some time afterward. Anyone near Him would have smelled it. He carried with Him something beautiful: a fragrance that would have blessed anyone around Him and drawn their attention to Him.

Whatever has broken you, whatever regrets and shames you may carry, however much they may have cost you, and however the voices around you may accuse you of waste, all of this is a precious oil, which, when poured out from you, anoints the Savior's head and feet, blessing the world as it draws all to Him. It perfumes the air, calling the wounded, the hurting, the dying, to the one who gives rest, and upon whom nothing that is poured out is ever wasted, no matter what men in their pretended wisdom may think.

- picture credit, unknown
- scriptures taken from the New King James Version