Beauty in the Broken

There is a certain level of beauty in the pain we experience in this life. Some go through more pain that others, and some will never recognize the beauty in it, but I believe we can see it, if we allow God to show it to us. 

When we are broken because of this world, God reaches out to us and restores us. Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

You see, God doesn't want to see us suffering, but sometimes we must suffer, we must be brought low, so that He can rise up within us. It is through our brokenness that we will find Christ in His fullness. It takes a very strong level of vulnerability to come to fully know The Lord, and we aren't at our most vulnerable unless we are broken. 

Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

You see, Christ doesn't want us to find our strength in this world; if we search for worldly strength we will surely fail. But we can rest assured that there is a greater strength that Christ will give us; He will give us His strength to press on when we think we can't, and to do what we don't see ourselves capable of doing. The most important thing we need to do is follow the teachings of Christ, follow His commandments, and allow Him to be our strength and our stronghold. Without Him we are nothing. 

We must, however, always recognize that we are nothing without Him. We must recognize our weaknesses and give them back to Christ, allowing Him to strengthen us from the inside out. If we begin to live as though we are perfectly Without flaw, then we will surely fall. By living in and with Christ, however, we can be certain that He will always lead us away from destruction and from falling too far; if we do fall, He will bring us back to our feet. Psalms 107:20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

God truly is a wonderful and glorious God, and it saddens me how difficult it is for many to trust in Him and take a step of faith in His direction. We grow so comfortable in our own comfort and in our own ways of living, that we neglect to realize that the way Christ wants us to live would be SO much better, if we simply stepped out of our comfort zone, gave our lives over to Him and believed. 

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without boarders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior." 

Like a Child

Life has a way of teaching us lessons. I should say, rather, that God has a way of teaching us lessons and helping us to learn and grow. 

I've learned that love in this world isn't what we expect it to be. I've learned that I love too deeply to be considered "normal." At least not normal today. So many incidents in our lives today make us either afraid to love, unable to love, unwilling to love, or overly expectant of what love is supposed to feel like. 

The truth is, though, love isn't what we are told it is in the movies. I never expected it to be, but so many of us look for that, and we end up completely dissatisfied with what we have in our lives. 

My problem, though, isn't a fear of love, it isn't an inability to love... My problem is that I can't do anything other than love. It's something that God placed in me, and for what reason, I don't know yet. The biggest problem with this, however, is that it makes me too trusting, too open, and too expectant of others to be the same. Love isn't complicated to me, it isn't messy or hard. It is simply a choice I make. I choose, daily, to love everyone I am blessed with coming in contact with. 

What I know, however, is that love isn't perfect because human beings aren't perfect. We are all indescribably flawed, and incredibly harsh towards ourselves inwardly. We judge areas of ourselves that we don't need to judge, and we turn ourselves into a villain that we are not. What we need to do is turn those areas of ourselves over to Christ entirely, and become in-tune with the beauty of who God has made us to be. 

I didn't learn this through some big revelation or some trial I have faced. I actually learned this through the love of my dog; my angel in disguise. 

You see, we may be flawed, and we may be incapable of loving completely unconditionally, but animals aren't. There is no one in this world that will ever love me that way kenobi loves me. 

I feel that God placed little children and animals on this earth in order to teach us what real love looks like; real love is unselfish and and unjudgmental. We can have a bad day, come home and snap at a child for nothing of their doing, and they will still love us--they will try to cheer us to and make us laugh. There is no judgement or anger in them... They simply want to love us. 

Just as you can leave an animal for weeks at a time, abandon it with your family to take care of it, knowing it has an unhealthy attachment to you and isn't them same when you're gone--but when you come home, what do he do? When I come home, what does kenobi do? He runs into my arms and glues himself to me all day and night. He simply wants to tell me that he loves me and he missed me. 

As we get older, and we experience life, our ability to hold this kind of selfless and irrevocable love for others is difficult. We become changed by the world, and untrusting. But if God created us in His image, and He is Love, should we not be willing to selflessly love? 

God tells us "unless you become my little children, you will not enter then Kingdom of Heaven." 

So this is how I choose to love. Unconditionally, and with a childlike faith in others. Yes, this will lead to a lot of heartache and disappointment, but I know that my God is greater, and I know that He sees that the motives behind my love for everyone in my life is to simply love them; my intention is to simply let at least the people I come into contact with know that they, too, are worthy of love and deserve it. 

So here's to trying to live with the heart of a child, to ignoring the social norms of the world and not letting the wickedness in it make me grow cold, and here's to allowing God to guide me, always, even when I have no idea to where that may be. 

Jesus, I trust in You.