My brokenness is a better bridge for people than my pretend wholeness ever was.
~~~~~~~~~ Sheila Walsh
If you've never read anything by Sheila Walsh, I'd encourage you to do so. A quick online search, read a few lines. She speaks with great sensitivity about being broken, and while her life isn't our life, we have all experienced brokenness in some form. An illness, an injury, a loss...we all struggle at times. You break your arm as a kid, everybody at school gets to sign your cast, have some fun with it. Then you heal, the cast is removed, and you're back to normal, having perhaps learned that the cape your mom made for you out of a dish towel really won't enable you to fly.
But a broken heart or broken dream. Who signs that cast? Who even knows you're broken? Maybe you aren't the one who's broken; maybe it's someone close to you. What then? Paul tells us in Romans 12:15 that we should "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." So how do we help the mourner if we've never mourned? How do we comfort the hurting friend, if we've never experienced a hurt? That's when our own brokenness comes in handy. We can wrap up the hurting friend in our love and empathy like a down comforter on a cold morning.
Through our struggles, God has made us strong enough to help and serve others. That's reason enough to rejoice!
Blessings,
NT
~~~~~~~~~ Sheila Walsh
If you've never read anything by Sheila Walsh, I'd encourage you to do so. A quick online search, read a few lines. She speaks with great sensitivity about being broken, and while her life isn't our life, we have all experienced brokenness in some form. An illness, an injury, a loss...we all struggle at times. You break your arm as a kid, everybody at school gets to sign your cast, have some fun with it. Then you heal, the cast is removed, and you're back to normal, having perhaps learned that the cape your mom made for you out of a dish towel really won't enable you to fly.
But a broken heart or broken dream. Who signs that cast? Who even knows you're broken? Maybe you aren't the one who's broken; maybe it's someone close to you. What then? Paul tells us in Romans 12:15 that we should "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." So how do we help the mourner if we've never mourned? How do we comfort the hurting friend, if we've never experienced a hurt? That's when our own brokenness comes in handy. We can wrap up the hurting friend in our love and empathy like a down comforter on a cold morning.
Through our struggles, God has made us strong enough to help and serve others. That's reason enough to rejoice!
Blessings,
NT
