Fractured
Broken
Incomplete
Not whole

As I reflect on today’s word, all I can do is cry out to our God because our world is indeed fractured. One doesn’t need look far to see that. Yet it seems to me that in our brokenness, in our own fracturedness, we can and are gifts in this broken world.

I wouldn’t be who I am without telling the story of my own mom’s struggle of mental illness and living into my own vulnerability as her daughter. Yet I realize that is often so much easier said than done. In fact, I know how hard it is because it took me 18 years to tell my families story. As Brene Brown says, “The bravest thing you’ll ever do is tell your story.” Yet do we truly listen to one another’s stories? It seems to me that often our ears and eyes aren’t always completely open to the injustices happening all around us.

Our world is…….FRACTURED!

18 years of an untold story locked deep in the depths of my heart.
Fractured.

Divorced families
Fractured

Democrats or Republicans
Fractured

Water or oil
Fractured

Curse words or flowery language
Fractured

And these are only just a few of the examples I see in our broken fractured world every day. I want better. In fact, anyone who knows me knows that I am often a peacemaker and not an agitator. But what I’m learning is sometimes (read:most of the time) God calls us to move outside our comfort zones; to be agitators in this world. Perhaps we need to be Gods megaphone to a deaf world.

And as the megaphone, it seems to me that God can handle whatever we choose to scream at him. Jesus himself even cursed at the tree when he came into Jerusalem. As a daughter of a woman who daily lives with a mental illness, there are words that I have uttered that came from the very depths of my being–words that weren’t pretty but instead were filled with lament.

Our world is indeed fractured in so many and various ways. In fact, I’m saddened and angry as I’ve watched how we treat one another. I’m especially angry at how my LGTBQ +, Jewish and Muslim friends and black/brown friends are treated. My dear friends, we can do better. I want so desperately to cling to hope, yet there are days I wonder if we will ever find hope, ever find wholeness, equality and justice in our broken fractured world.

It seems to me though that our brokenness is often what makes us whole again. It’s what transforms us into who God has called us to be. I’m reminded of a Japanese art form called “kintsugi” where they take broken pottery, piece it back together and lacquer it with gold. The gold cracks are a reminder of where this pottery has been. It’s also the place where the light shines through. It’s where I believe God uses each of us to make the world whole again; by listening to and loving ALL Gods children. Yet I’ll admit there are more days than I care to admit, I just want to smash our world into the ground because of the injustices I see around me.

During this Advent season, my only hope is in our God who came to Noah after the flood; who placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise that God would always fulfill. It is that promise that I hold on tightly to in the midst of our fractured world.

Broken
Incomplete
Fractured

Beautiful
When we
Do justice
Love kindness/mercy
And walk humbly with our God!