I’ve thought a lot about brokenness in the past several years. Maybe because I know what brokenness feels like. Maybe because He has placed within me a desire to heal broken people. Whatever the reason(s), I look for brokenness and want to be an agent of healing.
Brokenness takes many forms, some of which are easy to spot…some not so easy. Some forms of brokenness easily elicit a loving response….others tend to elicit judgment or disgust. Losing a loved one…the death of a dream….a devastating diagnosis….sudden things that happen that were unforeseen….all these are readily recognized as painful. We respond with love to those in the grip of such.
But, we don’t so easily respond with love to other forms of brokenness….the form that seems to be the the result of one’s choices. We don’t see the brokenness that leads to their choices….only the results of their choices.
A teenager acting out in rebellion is often just as broken as the teenager injured by an accident.
A brazen stripper is just as broken as a woman who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.
A homeless man living under a bridge is just as broken as a man whose wife just left him.
A young man who walks into an elementary school arbitrarily gunning down children is just as broken as the young man who holds his dying 1st grader in his arms.
We could go on and on. We don’t always see brokenness, especially if it takes forms that cause us to look away rather than draw near…..when it is foreign to us rather than something we can imagine….when it looks willing rather than unwanted. But, all are brokenness. All are painful.
But, you know something? All forms of brokenness and pain need the love of Jesus….and we are called to be agents of that love. We can’t pick and choose which form of brokenness we will embrace and which we will reject…or at least we shouldn’t. But, we need to be forewarned….helping people heal is messy business…and painful. We sometimes have this romantic view that we will rush in and love them and all the brokenness and pain will disappear. We aren’t always prepared for the pain that might be inflicted.
Hurting people….hurt people. Wounded souls….wound souls. If we want to help one another heal…..if we seek to bring a greater degree of wholeness to another we will most likely hurt in the process. Much like holding broken pottery, we cannot expect to hold tightly to broken individuals without getting bloody….without getting sliced open ourselves at times. Their pain may be so great that we cannot help but feel it too. In reality, we must feel it so that we can be gentle and patient, so we can persevere with them. Their pain may be such, that in their flailing, we ourselves are wounded.
How will we respond when this occurs….when we are hurt in the process of loving a wounded soul? Will we pull away when we get bloodied, protecting ourselves from further pain? Or, will we continue to hold tightly to them, allowing our Heavenly Father to protect us? Will we grow tired, weary and quit? Or, will we stay the course, enduring until breakthrough, healing and wholeness comes? Will we run home to nurse our wounds? Or, will we allow Jehovah Rapha to bring healing to us so we can continue to bring healing to them? Will we respond with rejection or will we respond with embrace?
Wounded people often forget that those seeking to help them heal are themselves wounded. There is no such thing as complete wholeness this side of heaven. Sometimes the one trying to bandage open wounds is doing so with a broken arm and a blinded eye….but their heart is one of love. The desire is to help bring healing and wholeness, but we are crippled in our attempts and unfortunately, we sometimes hurt others in our desire to help them heal.
Oftentimes, our Heavenly Father nudges us to bring healing to someone else in areas that will heal us as well. So, there is an interplay between the individuals, much like a wounded soldier supports his wounded comrade as they crawl away from the line of fire. In the crawling away, sometimes one re-injures the other. But, the only other option is to let them lie. Is that really an option?
Lean on me, when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on.
For it won’t be long till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.
We are His agents of love to a hurting, broken world. We will most likely get hurt, but that cannot deter us. Look around you….look for brokenness….be the person that reaches out to bring healing, and don’t look away….don’t turn away….don’t walk away.