Beauty in Brokenness

Hello All,

We are wounded people with so much fear inside.

We hide our wounds and brokenness in different ways – a forced smile, laughter, anger, demands, busyness, entertainment, pleasures, apathy, and impassiveness.

The masks we wear are like cloths we drape over the pieces of broken pottery. What was once whole is now broken.

Beauty in Brokenness

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

I’ve a favourite bear whose name is Tatty Teddy

He is a grey, tattered bear with imploring eyes

He may seem too insignificant for Poetry

But there’s something about him that’s caught my eye

I gazed at the patches on the grey, tattered bear

They made me think of the wounds they conceal

Were those raw wounds given adequate thought and care?

Were they given an opportunity to heal?

We are wounded people with so much fear inside

The pain of rejection cuts deep into our hearts

Our fragile hearts we try to protect and hide

Forging strong, steel armours became our form of art

If we had a choice, we would rather have no pain

No patches, no tatters, but a heart of steel

But there’s beauty in brokenness, there’s much to gain

There’s purpose in the pain and brokenness we feel

Our hope is found in the deep wounds of our Healer

Christ’s sacrificial love brings comfort and healing

His love gives us the courage to love others

Though we’ve been hurt, our hearts don’t stop loving

Though the purposes of our pain we cannot see

We have messed up and don’t know how to clear the mess

Yet out of this brokenness, God has brought beauty

Despite disappointments, pain, and loss, we’re still blessed

Points for Reflection:

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

(Psalms 34:18 ESV)

·       Shift your gaze from your wounds to the deep wounds of Jesus Christ. He knows the pain of disappointments, abandonment, and betrayal. When we have come to a point where we feel that no one understands our pain, He does and He feels them too.

·       When the object that has once brought you joy, meaning, and love has been taken away from you, Christ is there. Sometimes it is the removal of things we hold dear that makes us realise the all surpassing magnitude of His infinite love. When nothing seems to make sense, He does.

·       Christ has redeemed us from the brokenness of sin through the cross. When all is lost, our standing and security in God remain. This certainty is something that nothing can take away from those who trust in Christ.

·       There’s clarity in the fog, comfort in the pain, and wholeness in brokenness. There’s beauty in brokenness, even if we cannot see it now.