There is an undeniable brokenness in each one of us.
We all struggle for wholeness, some sense of completeness.
Yet in the rawness of our stuff, there are shadows of fear.
Fear that our brokenness will be seen...
Fear that our brokenness will repel...
Fear that our kind of brokenness has no hope for healing...
Any revelation of self carries risk.
Our own lack of perfection terrifies us.
We sometimes go to unbelievable lengths to protect it and mask it.
Do we think that if no one else sees it that it is not really there?
Do we believe that if someone were to see it, they would really withdraw their love?
Or could we possibly become more endearing, more real, more human - even more lovable?
Oh, to be seen fully and loved fully anyways!
That is really our deepest longing...to be loved in our brokenness.
Some keep a façade with God, living their ¨perfectness¨ before Him.
As if the One who made you can´t see everything anyway!
Some keep a façade with themselves, unaware of their artful masking.
They´ve lived so long with it, they don´t even know it´s there!
To not be fully seen & yet be loved is not really love.
What value is there in loving an illusion?
To be fully seen & not fully loved is not really love.
Who wants conditional love?
To be fully seen and fully loved anyways - now that is love.
This is how God loves -
And He has created in us a yearning for this kind of genuine love with others, too.
Are we not all on a lifetime journey of learning to receive and give love?
To receive His perfect love in our own imperfection and give it away with the same generosity?
Do we not all yearn for transparency & true intimacy with those we care about?
Then let us love in the brokenness.
Yes, it is scary business.
We are painfully aware that our very own ability to love is marred because of our own brokenness.
How can we, therefore, trust others whose love is marred?
This daring to love in brokenness takes great courage.
In family, there is the double-edged sword capacity for both
the deepest kind of love and the deepest kind of hurt.
In the very terrain where we know each other best - good, bad & ugly -
is birthed an amazing potential for unconditional love - or incredible hurt.
Will we not dare to love & be loved because of fear of the potential hurt?
In brokenness, there is always that risk, because no, we do not love perfectly.
But what if we dare to self-reveal and discover a tender, unconditional love returned...
Will we not be transformed?
So therein is our dilemma.
Can we stand to reveal our own brokenness? Will we choose to?
Will we let Him into those dark places to bring healing?
Will we let family into those dark places to bring healing?
Being fully known and fully loved is the most profound experience on earth.
Let us love in the brokenness...
...together.
Photo by: TyGrr Babii
¨BROKEN TOGETHER¨
by
Casting Crowns