The broken pieces 

Last night I listened intently to an amazing message from one of the great ladies of our little church. Her words began to ring out in my spirit as the topic of ‘being broken’ presented a strong argument for communicating with God on a one-on-one basis and how He puts the pieces back into place or has us leave some of those pieces out of the picture, improving us for the better. 

The message was depicted as a conversation between God and a real person. The ‘broken’ part dealt with failure, guilt, depression and even sin. 

What have you ‘lost’ due to your bad decisions? How have you coped with the reality of not ‘measuring up’ so to speak’ to the standards of others? Does everyone, or anyone for that matter, know what you go through as you mentally review your history and suffer emotionally from the impact of the negative influences? 

I keep seeing all the polls about this subject and that subject such as weight management, bullying, absentee parents and more.  

What about dealing with guilt and failure? Where are the programs for those two? We pay an enormous amount for government programs that often inevitably fail as well, because of poor planning and even poorer implementation. 

What we really need are more group therapy sessions if you will, where people can openly discuss the issues impacting their lives on a daily basis. If we learn how to openly talk about our problems and actually come up with good ideas to cope with or ‘get over’ these issues, we can begin to understand each other better and eventually overcome those life wrenching ‘valleys’ that are so hard to climb out of. 

Is this important or am I just looking for another issue to bombard people and vent? No, I believe this is very real and can be dealt with in a compassionate and informative way that helps people recover from these burdens and get on with a much more productive life. 

Okay, so how? As I said, we ‘have to’ talk to each other. Look around you. The majority of people you are seeing right now are ‘on the phone’. On the phone with who? We are for the most part, ignoring the ones around us and retreating into a much smaller world. The world of self. We pay more attention to self than the others around us and it should be on a more equal basis than it is now. Directly communicate with the ones around you and keep the lines of communication open so you can have dialog back and forth. Take some of the time you spend on ‘you’ and give that measure of time to understanding the people around you. How did the other person get to where they ae right now? 

Learn how others feel about the issues of life and consider their view as possibly being valid. If it’s not viable to you, discuss peacefully what will work for both parties. It’s alright to ‘agree to disagree’. Having a differing belief doesn’t necessarily make an enemy of a person. It just means that the other person sees the subject from a different perspective. I’m not saying we should compromise about everything either. That’s not the answer to what we’re discussing here. We have to take a stand on our individual beliefs and stick to them. But not with anger or hateful replies. Treat others with the same demeaner and respect you would like applied to your life.

Don’t ‘take’ more than you need. Leave room for others to have the things they want to accomplish as well. This is America. We are supposed to have certain freedoms, but not at the expense of others' liberty. 

There are any number of ways to deal with these issues. We only need to seek them out by coming together and finding the solutions to the problems and implementing the ‘fixes’ in a timely manner. Sometimes, trying out a possible solution can give us insight to what does or does not work.

We have fought against each other on so many things and for so long that it seems as though we have to ‘start out on the defensive’. Not true. If we begin with a peaceful approach to others, I believe we can make great strides toward solving our most pressing and divisive problems. 

The final point of the message by my great Sister I so enjoyed brought up the scenario of man conversing with God. The person asked timely questions but ultimately, God gave unexpected answers.

I thought, “how enlightening”. We never really know how the Creator will respond to us. We have to stay ‘open’ and involved. How many times do we ‘throw up’ a quick prayer and then go about our day, not giving God the chance to reply. Are we waiting for ‘the answer’, or do we expect the answer to be what we are thinking? ‘God’s ways are not our ways’. He thinks on a much higher level than we do and that’s what He is trying to get us to do. Think big. Open up your spirit to new and better things. God is waiting for us to be still and hear what He has to say, not what we think it should be. 

Remember, this is a complicated and diverse world. The Creator made it so; and for good reason.