Moses came down the mountain, and smashed the newly minted tablets! The Jews had miscalculated the 40-day mark when Moshe was meant to return, and in their impatience, had decided to crown a Golden Calf as their new God.
Not a very proud moment. Disloyalty. A lack of faith. So soon after leaving Egypt. So soon after hearing the Ten Commandments (including you shall have no other Gods). Certainly not a moment that we'd want to highlight and feature. And yet, do you know what was in the Ark, right beside the second set of tablets, in the Holy of Holies? The broken shards from the original sapphire tablets. These broken fragments were cherished and valued. Because making mistakes, encountering failure, breaking down, does not have to be the end of our story. Instead, let's use that downward energy as a motivator and catalyst to rebound to even greater heights than where we once stood. Our personal broken tablets can become a defining moment in our lives, the beginning of a bright new chapter.