Broken

Have you ever been broken? Maybe it was over an injury inflicted by another, a devastating event, a significant loss, or even the death of a dream. Maybe it was the sort of broken that makes your world spin, your heart pound with renewed intensity, your emotions flow, your questions multiply, and your pain spill over. Can you understand that sort of broken? I can.

As I watch people and get to know them, I learn their stories. If we live long enough, we will all have at least one story; most have many. I have many. These wounds, these broken parts—these are what we are taught to hide lest others perceive us as weak or use them to exploit us and cause greater hurt, right?

Maybe, instead, you have been the one who has helped cause the brokenness in another. Maybe you spoke before seeking to understand; maybe you struck someone in your anger; maybe you simply showed you did not care. I have. Or maybe you are perfect? I am not.

Today I was reminded of a lesson I wish I would finally learn. Yes, I am broken. However, my brokenness, blindness, dullness, or deafness is no excuse. I am just as guilty as any who have wronged me. So, what do we do? Do we continue in our narrow vision and swim in our justifications, telling ourselves we have every right to be angry, bitter, and resentful?

Or, do we love?

I have no stone to throw, no right to condemn, no cause to issue judgment.

So what will I do? I will choose to love through grace. I will always forgive. I will love enough to have boundaries with those who insist on continuing in their wrong. I think some misunderstand unconditional love and even forgiveness. Unconditional love does not say, "I will be your doormat." Instead, it says, "I will be your mirror." True love says to the one who continues to harm, "I love you too much to let you continue to do ____ to/with me." Will that cost you? Love and boundaries, they always cost you. They can even break you.

Yet, I believe I serve One who is bigger than my brokenness. I believe I serve a God that can take brokenness and create something incredible. I believe this because that is what he continues to do every single day in my life. Those who have meant the most to me and have even helped me have been the ones who have chosen to love me. They loved me enough to help me change and still do.

What will you choose to do with your brokenness?