Good morning…
As my friend and I walked and talked around the horse farm, we discussed all that feels broken, out of order, in disarray right now. Mid-sentence I looked down to see a single butterfly wing at my feet. Disconnected from the whole. Lying alone there in the dirt. I picked up the fragile…little…useless wing. The small symbol deepened our own awareness. What used to provide a sense of sturdy balance had somehow fallen off.
For an honest hour, we walked and talked, back and forth, on and on. As we were leaving the horse farm, I looked down to see a sight I had never seen before.
A broken acorn had been cracked open. It was growing roots in the middle of the dusty road, resiliently sprouting light green leaves. As I pulled it up from its scraggly roots, I noticed another acorn, almost identical, rooting and shooting just like the first. I set the second baby oak in the open palm of my friend’s hand.
Broken feels horrible. A broken wing. A broken acorn. A broken dream life. Yet broken is never the end of God’s story. “Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you…” says Psalm 51:17 in the Message translation. “Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.”
Broken happens to every living thing. Simply going through the motions, putting on a flawless performance means nothing to our God. As we are made ready for a deeper love, is it enough that our shattered hearts do not escape God’s notice, not even for a moment?
A keen awareness of God’s regenerative power broke open our hearts and walked us home.
…Sue…
