When the glass hit the tile, I cringed. In slow motion, I bent down to pick up my new watch, afraid of what I would find when I turned the face right side up. My mind lagged behind my eyes as the shattered screen lay in my palm. Denial, resistance, and protest paraded through the replays of the past few minutes, attempting to ward off the sting of reality as long as possible. 

But the watch I had received as a special gift just weeks earlier–the one that arrived in sleek packaging and in perfect condition–was broken. Already. I felt ashamed, disappointed, and angry. How could something go from flawless to wrecked so quickly? 

In a moment of clarity, I recalled the protection plan that was purchased with the watch.  

Anxiously, my mind raced with questions: would this incident qualify? How much would it cost? The process seemed too easy: enter basic information online, tell the story of what happened, send the broken watch at no cost, and wait for a replacement to arrive in the mail within a few days. I was skeptical. 

Not even 48 hours passed before I held a shiny, smooth watch screen in my palm. The one I had shattered hadn’t been fixed, improved, repaired, patched back together, and then returned to me. What I held in my hand was brand new. 

Wrapped around my wrist is a daily reminder of what God tells us through Ezekiel, “I will put a new spirit in them.” It is so easy for me to forget that God does not just want to make me better. God wants to give me a new spirit.