Blessed to be Broken

Over 20 years ago the words “What’s there to like about you?” still haunt me. Not like they use to, yet, they still hang in the balance of what was and what is.

It made me wonder this morning about the hurtful words I’ve spoken over the many years of my life. Did I wound someone the way I’ve been wounded?

If I’m honest. Yes. Yes, I have. If I’m even more honest, some of those hurtful words were intentional.

It’s what we do, right? Someone lashes out at us and our typical response is to lash out right back, hoping our words sting as much as their words stung us.

Then, in the stillness, we replay the words over and over in our heads till ad nauseam. We analyze every part of what happened wondering “How did it get to this point”?

We tuck the hurt away hoping to forget some of the worst days, and just when you least expect it, they come creepy crawling back into our brains.

Arguments are inevitable. We’re a tangled mix of human beings with a bazillion different feelings and emotions kept it place by outsides.

But, when our insides need to explode, because let’s face it, what’s in our hearts has to come out, the person or people on the other side of that explosion are gonna catch some shrapnel.

Is there a better way to release the pressure valve? I’m sure there is and countless ways have been thrown down our throats via social media and the like. Yet, social media and its comments can be some of the ugliest words I’ve seen.

As I’m typing this, the words from the song “Careless Whisper” sung by the late George Michael come to mind.

“Time can never mend, the careless whispers of a good friend. To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind. There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all you’ll find.”

Have our careless whispers become venomous shouts?

Seems the more we talk about being kind to one another, the uglier we get. Like, it’s become a battle of who can say the worst thing ever and walk away like that’s a battle scar proudly worth displaying.

Ya know what doesn’t matter? How anyone else acts and lives with themselves. Because, in the end, it’s gonna be you on your deathbed with your life staring back at you.

You know what will be your bed buddy at that point? Your regrets. The things you may never be able to say you’re sorry for because there’ll be no one left to listen.

Justifying our own ugliness by he said, she said, he did, she did is a sorry way to walk through our own life.

One of my favorite Christmas shows is Mr. Magoo’s, A Christmas Carol. In the animated show, he plays Ebeneezer Scrooge. He’s a miserable lout to say the least, but hey, he’s got money. A lot of it.

Hoarding money didn’t make him nice. It made him greedy, angry, selfish, and oblivious to how all that ugliness affected the lives around him. His comfort was his gold.

See, just like Ebeneezer Scrooge we’ve forgotten we weren’t put on this earth for ourselves. Yet, we walk around on the daily looking out for me, myself and I.

Of course we all know the story. Ebeneezer is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. After viewing the slideshow of his life, he vows to change. He decides instead of being miserable and playing out that old adage of misery loves company, he flips the script to help others.

Sure, we could say, well, no one tried to sue him after he helped, but that’s justifying bad behavior. True, it’s far easier to stand back and turn a blind eye, or watch so we don’t get caught in anyone’s cross hairs, but, we don’t just sit back and watch do we?

No, we pull out our “smart phones” and record the incidents hoping our social media likes will garner us a huge following.

It’s at this point, I could ask, “What’s happened to us?” But, this type behavior is nothing new. We just have more access to it than we’ve ever had before. See, what I did there? I justified bad behavior.

Kindness costs. I use to say it doesn’t, but it does. It costs exactly what Jesus said it would. Laying down your life for another. Did His word specify who that laying down was for? He sure didn’t. He himself laid down His own life for every single loud mouth, and criminal out there. He set the example no one could or would follow. It’s why we need Him. Because we all fall short.

But, knowing we fall short, He tells His followers this:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” ~ Matthew 16:24-26 (NLT)

How that looks for you, will be different from me. All I can attest to, is anytime Jesus asks me to lay something down, it’s for my good. No matter how hard it might be. Pretty sure it wasn’t an easy yes to dying on the cross.

Ok, let’s wrap this up. Always and forever, we have a choice. How grateful am I that Jesus stands at the ready with every single answer I need to help me be more like Him.

There’s always gonna be hate, greed, and injustice in this world. Because truth be told, there’s people who thrive in doing the enemy’s work.

But, bigger than that all that yuck, should be the love of Jesus. As followers of Christ, saying “Jesus is Lord” is great in theory, but if that’s not being walked out, all unbelievers see is the same discontent as they find in themselves.

So, maybe instead of grabbing onto one word for the year, which seems to be the popular worldly thing to do, we actually grab hold of that cross Jesus told us, as His followers to pick up?

And when I say, we, and us, I mean me. Nothing is ever more beautiful than when we help and love one another. Let’s put that on display. Not for any kind of worldly status, but because that’s how we actually thrive.

Maybe, just maybe for this next year, we lay down the hateful words and rhetoric and stop talking about lifting one another up and we actually walk that out.

I firmly believe we have the power to change the world for good. It begins and ends with knowing Jesus. He’s in the business of changing and healing hearts. He’s been doing it for thousands of years. Afterall, He’s the One that never changes.

Thanks for being here this past year and cheers to next year. I have a feeling it’s gonna be the best one yet!

Be kind, do good, and when you find yourself in the wrong, for your sake, apologize simply because you know in your heart you caused someone pain. Afterall, pain never has a right side in any argument.

Peace out friends. Love you much!