Friday, Fourth Week of Lent

Accepting Our Brokenness and Living It

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all.  He keeps all their bones, not one of them will be broken.  Psalm 34:18-20 

I don't know anybody beyond the age of 2 years or so who has been absolved from the basic human condition of imperfection and pain.  The older we get the more we see that every single day offers the possiblity of joy or sorrow, trial and triumph, lightness or burden.  To live fully we need to recognize the presence of God's healing power even when we are brokenhearted by what we have done or by what others have done to us.  

One of my seasoned friends will often break into Latin when he talks about what it means to live fully.  Simul Iustus et Peccator,  (both saint and sinner!) he says, as he speaks about his 90+ years.  

He has been intentional about writing his memoirs, chronicling the highs and lows of his long life.  The sum of his experiences is almost perfect balance -- for every time he failed or fell off the path of goodness there was an opportunity to see God's grace scooping him up and placing him in a situation where he was made new.  This newness may have been in wisdom, or the capacity to love, or the willingness to be vulnerable or the humble acceptance of God's will for the situation.  

This man has not been perfect -- but clearly he has been perfected.  And in those moments when his flaws have affected his life, God's love has protected what God knew was precious.   

This is a life that has been, and continues to be fully lived.  

Prayer:  Gracious and loving God, thank you for meeting me in the brokenness of my flaws.