Brokenness

Ah that word.. Brokenness.. Do we hear it often? Probably not. What comes to mind? Broken families? Broken marriages? Break ups? Hmm.. Well it means a whole lot more to me. It means all of us.

Oh yes, you heard me right. All of us are broken in some way or another. We don't need to come from a broken home to be broken. We live in a generation of broken promises, broken values, a broken culture and that results in brokenness.

Ever wondered why we get so hungry for accomplishments and achievements when they're really nothing more than pieces of paper? Of ever wondered why we work so hard and long to hoard all that money and at the end of the day find that it wasn't worth it? Or why we've all started living for ourselves and ourselves alone? Or why crime and corruption and adultery have risen so much? Or why depression and suicide rates never seem to go down? Or why every other week you hear about bombs exploding everywhere?

That's brokenness for you.

Brokenness, not just on a personal level, but on a national and worldwide level. Let's face it. We ARE broken. We're a broken society. We've forgotten how to love and how to hope and how to care. We've forgotten how to live. Am I painting a bleak picture here? That's probably because most of us don't really know what goes on outside the 4 walls of our lives. I mean no offence of course.

We live in times where every major institution has crumbled and lies in shambles. The Governments are corrupted. In some parts of the world people have lost faith in marriage. Our moral system has changed to become something "subjective" rather than absolute. The judiciary systems are for the most part mere plays. The list goes on.

So is this the kind of world we want to hand down to our future generations? Do we want them to suffer from the mistakes of their forefathers? I for one say NO. I for one want to make a difference. And there are people all over the world today praying and hoping and living for that difference.

Every so often you hear a gem of a story. Perhaps it could be an old couple still very much in love after their 60th year of marriage. Or a story about a hero running through a burning house to save a stranger. Or a story of people giving up luxury and comforts to help the poor and needy of our world.

There seems to be a common theme or common denominator within all the above; the willingness to give. The willingness to put others before themselves. Yes, goodness and righteousness still exist in this world. And it is our duty to ensure goodness and righteousness will still exist, and indeed even be more prevalent in the future.

It's not that difficult really. It just needs a radical shift of our mindset away from ourselves to others. We just need to acknowledge that we are not perfect, no matter how perfect we look on the outside. We need to acknowledge our brokenness. Only then can healing for this generation take place.

Wouldn't it be cool if on one hand we could acknowledge we are all broken in some way or another; that we are still incomplete, and on the other still be able to pull our attention and concern away from ourselves to others? Try it. See how everything will change.