One Word At A Time: Broken
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 7:00AM MAD21 By Ginny (MAD21)
One of the many things children have to learn while growing up is how to express the way they feel appropriately. Imagine what the world would be like if adults handled themselves the same way that a child does when they feel frustrated, angry or upset. Scary. Aside from one experience I had with a project manager throwing a temper tantrum in my office several years ago (I actually wondered if he was going to throw himself to the floor!), most adults I know handle themselves and their emotions a little more judiciously.
As a child, the first experience I can remember when I learned a hard lesson about self-control was after a particularly bad day. I don't remember the specifics, except it was a fight with my mother, but I remember the anger I felt, and the frustration in not knowing how to express it. The first thing I did was go to my room and start crying (of course). But then I noticed my box full of crayons.
I loved to color. I had tons of half colored coloring books and papers everywhere. Like most kids, I had a lot of crayons I had collected over the few years of my young life, and I had been keeping them neatly in one of my old metal lunch boxes (remember those?). For the most part I always took very good care of my belongings, including my crayons. What kid doesn't like to color with nice whole, unbroken, crayons? But in one fleeting, angry moment, I made a terrible decision, one that I could not undo.
In my frustration, I grabbed my big box of crayons and systematically broke every single one, some in more than just two pieces. Now, this may seem trivial to an adult. But think about how much your things meant to you as a child. I only had a few toys and things that were really important to me when I was little, my crayons were one of them. When I was done, I just sat and looked at the pile of broken crayons that now laid before me. In the midst of my tears I realized what I had done and started to cry even more. The only person who was going to care about what I had done... was me. I took something that I loved, and broke it, intentionally.
Why do people hurt the ones they love the most? Why are promises made and then broken? I firmly believe that people who do things that hurt others are themselves hurting... and broken. When people are under a lot of stress they do dumb and sometimes hurtful things. Think about it... when we are rested and our lives seem to be going well, we have no trouble loving on those around us and having the patience we need to deal with the speed bumps that come our way. But then life gets busy and the storms come around and we are confronted with temptations, we don't have clear minds to make the right choices.
"Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:5-6)
God does not choose for bad things to happen. People have free will, and sometimes the free will of another has a terrible impact on innocent people. But God can still use that situation for His glory. Sometimes bad things happen and it's just bad, and you simply have to pray hard and persevere through the experience. But in some situations I think things need to be broken in order for life to be better in the long run. I've seen where people have lost their jobs, only to find better ones. Marriages fall apart because of infidelity, lying, and debt, only to be made stronger. Friendships lost that were holding someone back, now free move forward. It takes faith, patience, perseverance, courage and lots of prayer. Brokenness hurts, but not all brokenness is bad.
"Could all that is lost ever be found? Could a garden come up from this ground at all...
You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things out of us.
Hope is springing up from this old ground. Out of chaos life is being found in You..."
One more thing about those crayons... even though they were all broken, I could still use them, and still do all these years later. And just like those crayons, no matter how broken we may become at times in our lives, we can still be used for God's glory. We are still needed, useful and can create amazing and beautiful things... even out of the dust.
This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Broken.
Broken, Faith, Growing, Healing, One Word At A Time in One Word At A Time
Reader Comments (11)
The only thing I would add is: God is able to take our broken state and create something wholly perfect for His glory.
Loved this Ginny.
Absolutely, Dusty. Thanks!
A really wonderful look at brokenness Ginny...I'm sure God doesn't leave us that way. Thanks for sharing your heart!
"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you." Joel 2:25
I really like the way you tied a child breaking her crayons to hurting people hurting others. Great post, Ginny.
Thanks, Jay. It's the worst to feel that brokenness whether it was through our own choices or someone else's. But there is always hope in the healing that will eventually come if we have faith.
Thanks, Helen. I'm glad you liked it! I hope it blessed you :o)
No matter how many times we hear these reminders, it's not enough. To hurt the ones we love is to hurt ourselves and it is senseless and terrible. Thank you, Ginny. Great analogy.
Thanks, Ginny.
Love you, friend!
Your broken crayons are an example of how our lashing out often only hurts ourself. I am happy that you report that your broken crayons are still usable and "ain't" that the truth about us too! Reminds me of my post on Healing Anger, when I tore up the funny paper in anger. I got a beating, and my dad said that I must learn not to destroy anything in anger. WOW
"No matter how broken we may become at times in our lives, we can still be used for God's glory. We are still needed, useful and can create amazing and beautiful things... even out of the dust.:
I sure did need to hear this, Ginny. All of it.
Blessings!
Hazel... you got in trouble for tearing up the funnies? Well, I guess technically you got in trouble for doing it because you were mad. Can you send me a link to your Healing Anger post?
Melinda... I'm glad the words helped you. I pray that no matter what you will feel His love for you and gives you a purpose you can be passionate about.
"Brokenness hurts, but not all brokenness is bad." So true! Beautiful post...