I am broken.
A dear friend said these words to me this week. In hearing my friend’s heart, I shared too that I had been feeling broken as well. I don’t share this for pity or sympathy for me or my friend, but to recognize and honor that people feel broken - even during the “most wonderful time of the year.”
In this raw and honest conversation, I heard my friend’s heart and I freely shared mine.
It was refreshing to stop trying to present myself as whole.
Everyday so many of us present ourselves as whole to our families, friends, co-workers, online, etc.
Yet what life has taught me is that we aren’t meant to be whole- in our attempt to be whole is part of what hurts us - rather than admitting our brokenness which is part of what will heal us.
This beautiful quote from has been on my heart since the conversation.
“The seed breaks to give us the wheat. The soil breaks to give us the crop, the sky breaks to give us the rain, the wheat breaks to give us the bread. And the bread breaks to give us the feast.”
- @annvoskamp , The Broken Way
These nourishing words remind me that there is beauty in the brokenness. God will take what is broken and use it for good, in time. We just need to invite Him into the brokenness and stop trying to be whole and doing it all on our own.
If you too are feeling broken, or know someone who is, I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we allow ourselves to be broken. As Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in.”
We live in a broken world and are broken people. As I said to my friend, “there is always something going on with ourselves or someone we care about, right?”
But let us not lose heart in the brokenness. That is why Jesus was born. To bring light into the darkness. To bring healing and peace this world will not give us.
May we stop trying to be whole and allow ourselves to admit our brokenness. And into that brokenness, may we invite God in so His light of love can help us heal, and direct our steps.
With love and hope,
Shawn