Bumping into Brokenness
We all have those things about us that we don’t like, and which we’d like to change, or which cause harm to others – you may call it foibles, character flaws, mistakes, nastiness or something else. You can see it in the world too when people are harmed or brutalized. We cause pain in others, consciously or unconsciously.
In Christian circles, we often call this brokenness. The world is broken, and each of us is broken. And when something is broken, it’s not working the way it should and cannot do well what it was intended to do. (There’s also an entire theology of how and why, but that’s not important here.)
Lately I’ve been recognizing my own brokenness. I live closely with 6 other adults (one my spouse) and it’s not as easy to hide motives or patterns which aren’t quite right.
I was overwhelmed by how broken my spouse and I both are – and how that affects our relationship. We end up working at cross purposes, even though we do love each other. And yet that brokenness also prevents us from putting our own wants aside and looking out for the other.
In this awareness of reality, I remembered my faith. This is exactly why Jesus came – because God’s love and forgiveness is the only thing bigger than this, and the only thing that can actually change me, re-new me, so that I’m fixed into how I’m supposed to be.
And that means that there is hope too, for the 7 of us (and children) to also be re-newed to love, forgive, look out for, and maybe to show others there is hope and another way.