Have you ever considered how many ways you can be broken? I hear of brokenness in people, myself included, and I marvel at all the ways we can break.
From the internet dictionary,
I found these definitions:
bro·ken
ˈbrōkən’
Adjective
- Having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order. Another dictionary said “violently separated into parts.“ Such as “a broken arm”. I might add “a broken heart after a tragic loss”.
SYNONYMS: smashed, shattered, fragmented, splintered, crushed, snapped
- (of a relationship) ended, such as through infidelity. “a broken marriage”
SYNONYMS: failed, ended
- disrupted or divided. “broken families”
- (of an agreement or promise) not observed by one of the parties involved. “broken promises”
SYNONYMS: flouted, violated, infringed, contravened, disregarded, ignored, unkept
- of a person) having given up all hope; despairing. “he went to his grave a broken man”
SYNONYMS: defeated, beaten, subdued
- having breaks or gaps in continuity. “a broken white line across the road”” or a night of broken sleep”
SYNONYMS: interrupted, disturbed, fitful, disrupted, discontinuous, intermittent, unsettled, troubled
- (of speech or a language) spoken falteringly, as if overcome by emotion, or with many mistakes, as by a foreigner. “a young man talking in broken Italian”
SYNONYMS: halting, hesitating, disjointed, faltering, imperfect
- having an uneven and rough surface. “broken ground”
SYNONYMS: uneven, rough, irregular, bumpy
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Webster gave some additional definitions of BROKEN
: Violently Separated into parts.
: damaged or altered by breaking
: having undergone or been subjected to fracture
: being irregular, interrupted, or full of obstacles
: violated by transgression
: discontinuous, interrupted
: disrupted by change
: made weak or infirm
: subdued completely
: crushed, sorrowful
: bankrupt
: reduced in rank
: cut off
: disconnected
: imperfectly spoken or written
: not complete or full
: disunited by divorce, separation, or desertion
Here are some other Related Words (I left the links in so you could check the definitions)
blasted, detonated, exploded; cracked,slivered, splintered, split;
collapsed, imploded; demolished, destroyed, devastated, pulverized,
ruinate, ruined, wrecked;damaged, defaced, disintegrated,
dynamited, mangled,mutilated; eradicated, exterminated, extirpated, obliterated, wiped out; breakable, brittle, delicate, fragile, frail, frangible
We could go on- and on- and on with the study of this word broken. But I think with this list alone, all of us at one time or another have experienced brokenness! Which means in our lives, and in our world, on a daily basis we come across someone who is at some place of “broken” which directly or indirectly influences us.
It’s not always fun to stay in this topic of brokenness. But it seems it is important to consider “Where am I broken?”
Consider these different areas of your life-
Spiritual,
Family,
Professional,
Personal,
Physical,
Financial,
Social
Global
Now ask these questions.
Where am I experiencing brokenness?
Where is the source of the brokenness?
How is that broken place impacting other areas of my life?
What is God asking me to break to move forward? i.e. bad habit, or poor relationship, or a tradition
Before we can move toward wholeness, we must be willing to admit we are broken and in need of help. Maybe it’s your finances- you don’t know how you will pay the bills. Or perhaps your family is falling apart- or your marriage. Or maybe your health is suffering.
Are you willing to say, “Lord, I am broken!”
If not, what are you afraid of? What keeps you from it? Are you in denial, pretending this will all go away? Which it may, but if you don’t deal with it directly, you may carry the baggage of it with you into the future.
Are you thinking that God only wants you to think of good things- not focus on the negative? (I’ve actually heard that recently.)
God want us to see Him and know him to be GOD-enough for our real world- as things really are! He wants intimacy with us and that means being honest and real with each other. He is with us- if we are willing to see Him. But we with Him too. We have to be honest about it within ourselves- and with God!
This is the first step! Then we can begin to take steps toward WHOLE! I’m looking forward to that. Aren’t you?
Stay tuned for Part 2!
This is the 4th and final post in the series Living Open Handed in a White Knuckle World. If you have missed the previous posts, it would be helpful to go back and read them in order to understand how we got to this post. Links are provided below.
