Broken - Updated

Ever watch a tree and its branches sway with the wind?  It’s a beautiful sight, soothing to the soul.  I could watch it for hours on a breezy, sunny day.  It truly is beautiful and wonderful and a welcome, relaxing adjustment to the stresses of life. 

It’s also how they survive.  Trees bend with the force of the wind and then snap back to normal when it’s over.  It keeps them from breaking.  If they were rigid or stiff they would break under the pressure, the continual pressure of the wind.  They certainly couldn’t withstand a storm. 

But God created the trees and their branches to survive the constant and sometimes tremendous pressure of daily life.  He made them flexible.  He made them able to bend under pressure and snap back alive and well.  There’s beauty in that, and a lesson. 

The wonder of God’s holy creation inspires appreciation and awe from all who observe it.  When you realize this almost constant battle serves the higher purpose of strengthening the limbs and the tree, helping it to grow tall and strong and sure, you get a glimpse of God’s grace and provision.  It’s like exercise for the body.  The more exercise, the stronger the body. 

And it’s like trials for our spirit and the testing of our faith.  The more trouble, the more difficulties the Lord brings us through, the stronger we become in Him; the more we are able to truthfully and powerfully testify to His love, His grace, His life, and His work in us.

Understanding that helps us endure the many difficult situations we all must go through.

But sometimes the force is so strong, or so repetitive that something snaps.  Branches break.  Sometimes the whole tree breaks or is torn out of the ground.  There’s no snapping back from that any more.  There’s no return to normal any more.  There is only broken.  There is no more growth or increased strength.  There is only broken.  It can kill the tree.

Have you ever been broken?  I have.  I am right now.

I’ve been swaying.  I’ve been bending.  I’ve been snapping back.  For years I’ve been yielding.  I’ve sometimes willingly and sometimes unwillingly sacrificed self in honest hope and belief that I am being recreated in the image of Christ.  I’ve clung to the faith that taking on the nature of a meek and humble servant is a good thing. 

I still believe that.

And the truth is I have been made stronger.  I have been brought through many terrible trials.  I have been made stronger.

But right now I fear something may have broken.  I don’t see myself snapping back right now.  The renewed tenderness that usually follows a trial, that refreshing newness of life, the awareness of having overcome, survived, and grown stronger is not there.  In many ways, I couldn’t care less.  Compassion and empathy seem to have been replaced by resignation.  In place of active encouragement there is silence.  Compassion has been replaced by indifference.

I’m afraid something has broken.

Like a tree or its branches, when something breaks, there is no snapping back.  There is no more growth.  There is only death.  And it’s usually a slow, lingering death as the part that isn’t broken tries desperately to maintain life. 

There it is.  That’s nature.  There is no snapping back once something is broken. 

That is unless help arrives.  Healing and restoration can come from an outside source.  If someone binds up the broken branches, if someone puts it all back in place and binds it back together, then healing can occur.  Life can be restored.  Growth can continue.  There may be a scar, but the branch and the tree will live on.  And the scar will be a testimony for all to see that healing can and does occur; that we can survive the storms.

I so desperately need Jesus Christ to put things back in their proper place and bind up these wounds.  I so desperately need God to heal me and restore me because I’m afraid something has broken. 

Pray for that, will you?

:o(

That’s where I was until last night.  It’s a tough place to be, especially for someone who has been brought through the fire many times.  It’s heartbreaking to see a sometimes strong spirit who is normally enthusiastic and encouraging to, instead, be silent.  There’s something absolutely wrong when someone who so freely gives love has resigned themselves to merely co-exist.

But last night I had a very nice, comforting time and talk with our precious Lord, Jesus Christ.  He reminded me once again that I’m not alone.  I will not be left broken.  I will not be left to die a lingering death.  He will bind up my wounds.  He will restore life and love to my spirit.  I will once again be made stronger because He is still with me.  He has always been with me. 

My circumstances are still what they are.  There is still a wound, a broken place in my heart and in my spirit.  But Jesus encourages me that He will put things back where they belong.  Jesus will bind up this broken heart.  Jesus will heal this broken spirit.

Like a limb that has been broken and put back together and bound.  Healing will take place even if it does take time.

This will become a testimony of the love and healing of our most precious High God, Jesus Christ.  His joy will replace this emptiness.  His love will flow through me once again.  And I will testify of Him.  My life will testify of Him. 

My Deliverer is coming!  His gift of empathy and encouragement will be restored to me.  The Encourager, the Giver of Hope, the Giver of Life will resurface in my spirit and in my life.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your mercy, for Your love, for Your healing, for Your restoration, for Your spirit.

Thank You, Jesus.

Amen.