This post has been rolling around in my head for quite some time, so if it seems jumbled, let's just go with it got taken out of the dryer at the wrong time.
There are so many examples of what I want to try and say that I feel silly rehashing it. But....let me try to rehash it in a way that is personal to me.
In brokenness there can be a beauty that does not compare to anything else. That beauty also caters to the soul, not just the flesh.
On the worst days at my house, the ones I'm covered in puke or have been punched or bitten, I try to surround myself with beauty to try and take the sting out of the day. While it isn't the brokenness that causes the beauty, it's the juxtaposition that creates a heightened meaning. For instance, when one of us wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, I reach for my most beautiful mug: a china mug with gorgeous roses. While it doesn't chase the grumpies away, it does bolster resilience for a few hours.
I just finished a book called The Elegance of a Hedgehog. While it's main theme is not about what I'm talking about - it does touch on it. It was a beautiful book that fed my soul while chaos surrounded me. I suggest you look it up and dig in to it. Not only is the language stellar the whole book just made me smile and laugh out loud. (especially when she finally visits her neighbor!)
One of my favourite examples of brokenness causing beauty is found during the death of Christ. Since we just passed Easter, I thought it fitting to highlight it for you today. In the temple, separating the world from the Holy of Holies - the place where man would go to meet with God at the mercy seat to offer a blood sacrifice - there was a curtain. It wasn't just your average run of the mill curtain that could be pushed away. It was thick. It was HEAVY. It was HUGE - I'm talking 60 feet by 30 feet, not to mention it was about 4 inches thick. ....Now THAT is a curtain. It was also beautiful. It was woven in scarlet and blue by people who were specifically gifted to do so.
Thing is, it was 'just' beautiful. The thing that makes it heart-achingly, astoundingly glorious is that it was ripped from top to bottom. In and of itself, a ripped curtain would not be lovely, it would be broken, but that brokenness is infused with symbolism and meaning. That stunning tear signified the lack of barrier between God and man. The death coinciding with that rip opened the way for Man to come before God without the ritual sacrifice, but instead, covered in the blood of the Lamb.
That broken veil is beautiful - more so than when it was whole. It offers us the chance to not just survive, but live.
What beauty in brokenness have you seen?
XO,
J
Soli Deo Gloria
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