If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… if it is broke, just get a new one.
There is one thing that I remember from my childhood with such clarity about my dad: if something broke, he would fix it; if it was outside of his ability, he called the right person to do the job.
We live in an age of instant gratification and a state of disposal. If you want something, you just hop on the internet, search for it and swipe your card. In a couple of days, it is on your doorstep. Out with the old, in with the new. No real effort, quick and simple.
We pretty much want a quick fix for everything.
In today’s world, you do not have to look very far to see that people are hurting on every level. Broken into a thousand pieces. The human condition has not changed in, well… ever.
We are all broken in some way. The only difference today is that our brokenness is now given a name, a diagnosis. Some will use it like a crutch whenever they get a chance, and in that, knowing now what they know, instead of dealing with it, will limp their way through life playing the victim.
Our brokenness usually comes from some trauma that we have experienced in our life, and the scars that remain, the memories of that experience, like an open wound, will never heal if they go untreated.
If we dig down deep, and are truly honest with ourselves, we can recognize and see it for what it is. It is what we do with it that will make all the difference.
If we do not see it in its reality, it will continue to be the driving force that will shape and distort the rest of our lives. We will throw away relationship after relationship, job after job, until we find ourselves alone and miserable.
We give in to our lower faculties (emotions) and we give up. We stop looking at ourselves as broken, because our brokenness becomes the norm. It is easier to lean on our brokenness than to begin the healing process.
What we need to do is call on the right One to do the job. The One, True Physician that can truly bring us healing and peace. Will it be easy? No… because it will mean that you have to let go of all the hurt, pain, and fear, and everything else that comes with surrendering your will to God’s will in your life.
So, how do we begin the process of healing? Where do we start?
First… a story. I was meeting with someone especially close to me, a professed Christian, but sometimes he doesn’t seem to always reflect it. Some days, on fire for the Lord; other days, the angst of life seems to overwhelm him. Anyway… as our eyes met, I really wanted to let him know what I was seeing in him. Against my better judgment, I stayed silent, praying that God would speak to him. I prayed with him. After some time had passed, an awkward silence filled the room. I looked him square in the eyes, smiled, nodded… and walked away from the mirror.
This is the place to start, with the man in the mirror.
Self-examination, self-reflection can and will often do the soul some good. There is no room for excuses. There is no time for double talk. Just some good old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness self-reflection.
It is not meant to crush you, but a drive to push you forward and deeper into grace—to see your flaws, not as a final verdict, but as opportunities for God’s renewing work.
In practical terms, this encourages: regular confession, daily dependence on the Holy Spirit for strength, and humble, ongoing cries for God’s light and support (i.e., illumination of truth and grace to persevere).
This is a sobering, yet hopeful reminder, that our greatest foe is within, but our greatest ally is God, who never leaves us to fight alone.
“Through no merit of ours, but by His creation, we are the image of God. And in the mirror of God’s goodness we see, as well, our own unworthiness, the work of our own sin. For just as you can better see the blemish on your face when you look at yourself in a mirror, so the soul, who in true self-knowledge, rises up with the desire to look at ourselves in the gentle mirror of God with the eye of understanding, we see all the more clearly our own defects because of the purity we see in Him.”
— The Dialogue, St. Catherine of Siena
“A Christian ought not to be afraid of no enemy more than himself, whom he carries always about with him, and from whom he is not able to flee. He should never cease to cry out to God, ‘Unless thou, O Lord, art my light and support, I watch in vain.’” (Ps. 126)
— Pope St. Mark +
Live your life worthy of HIS Sacrifice +God Bless You +
God Bless You +
