As all two or so of you who read this blog probably know, and as I've mentioned a little bit in previous posts, I think about brokenness pretty often. I guess living in this world, everyone kinda thinks about the concept a lot, if not explicitly in those terms...
I wrote a post back in October about how Jesus redeems the tragedies of life.
But what I've been realizing lately is that a lot of times, we don't really let Him do that (n.b. this isn't to say that I think human beings can actually stop Jesus from doing anything). I guess what I mean is, even though we talk about how God is able to do all things, and we read about some of the miracles He performed in the Bible (total sidebar: I say some of the miracles because, as one of my favorite verses - and, yes, I do say that about, like, 327 different verses - points out, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25)...how crazy and awesome is that?!?...but I digress...), and we even look back on all the miraculous ways He's worked in our own lives, in a lot of ways we still don't expect Him to do great things in our lives. We don't really give Him opportunities to transform our lives so that they look radically different than the rest of the world.
That realization has been hitting me again and again over the past few years, and especially lately. And you know what? I don't want to live like that. I don't want to live a life of saying I believe God can do miracles, but not expecting Him to, or not giving Him every opportunity to do so.
Of course, there is going to be brokenness in life. This world is fallen. But I don't think that means we should act like that's okay. I don't think that means we should settle for living in that brokenness. I don't think we should accept that brokenness as how it's meant to be, because that's simply not the case. I think Satan really tries to make Christians think that we ought to respond the way the rest of the world does to all the broken situations and relationships of life. And, much of the time, I'm afraid we believe him.
I have no words to adequately express how much my heart hurts at that, mourns for that, revolts against that. People, this is NOT how it's supposed to be.
One of the ways in which I feel this most deeply is in broken relationships. Aside from my relationship with God, my relationships with people are the most important thing on this earth to me. And I work hard to keep up with them. Sometimes they ebb and flow, and that's natural, but I try really hard to find time for them even when life gets crazy, because investing in people is both one of my greatest joys and one of my highest priorities.
But there are a few people whose friendship I have lost over the last couple years, and this has honestly been one of the most painful things in the world to me. To know that there is anyone out there to whom I am estranged goes against everything I care about and everything I want to be. Unfortunately, in some cases, I've had to learn that there is only so much I can do. Apparently not everyone shares my beliefs about what friendship is and should be (to quote Augustine, "Well said one of his friend, 'Thou half of my soul:' for I felt that my soul and his soul were 'one soul in two bodies'"...), and apparently not everyone believes that the sacred bond of friendship need never be broken.
This isn't to say that there aren't people I've struggled to be friends with, or times when I've been tempted to throw in the towel. But the thing is...I'm willing to struggle. I think it's okay (not in the sense that it's the way it's supposed to be, but that since we're living in a fallen world, it's going to happen) that it's a struggle sometimes. Some of my dearest friends are the ones with whom I've had the most conflict. But that only works if both people are ultimately willing to stop at nothing in pursuit of the friendship. If one or both people run at the first sign of difficulty, there's not much that can be done.
What really gets to me is when people try to advise me to give up on a difficult friendship (especially when it's a friendship between two Christians). If any of my readers have done this, I'm not condemning you for that, and I do understand that that advice comes from a well-meaning place. Sometimes friendships go through periods during which they are difficult and painful. But I don't think that ever means we should give up on a friendship. I just can't believe that God would EVER have it in His plan for two of His children to remain unrighteous (not in right relationship) with each other.
So here I am, saying it for all of my vast readership to hear: By the grace of God, I will not settle for what the rest of the world accepts as normal. By the grace of God, I will never give up on a friendship, even when it's difficult or painful. By the grace of God, I will never put up with the hardships Satan tries to throw into my relationships without a fight. By the grace of God, I will keep on loving, no matter how the other person treats me.
I believe in the power of God to redeem situations and relationships that to all human understanding are irredeemable.
I believe in the power of God to make broken things beautiful.
More of you and less of me, Jesus.
