Sacred Brokenness

We adopted a dog a week ago. We knew that we wanted a rescue dog and this seemed like an important time to open our home since shelters are closed.  We were matched with a little nine-pound Pomeranian mix.  The shelter said that he needed a couple of surgeries and would be available for adoption once he had those completed.  On the day of his adoption, my sons were counting the hours until we picked him up.  And then, the phone call…

The shelter informed us that his dental work revealed erosion of his jaw.  He would need medicine around the clock and he would need to wear a muzzle and a cone for eight weeks in order for the fracture to heal. In addition, he would need to be fed by hand.

This was the moment of truth.  Could we handle that much work for a pet, having never been dog owners?  Should we wait until he was healed before we welcomed him in?  After wrestling with this, my answer became unequivocally, “No!”  We would not wait for him to stop being broken before giving him a safe space.  We would offer him a home in which to heal.

This caused me to reflect: Isn’t this the way that God works with us?  Doesn’t He welcome us in just as we are, broken jaws and all?  Isn’t His love the home we all need in which to heal?

I am reminded of a story that Jesus told that is often called “The Prodigal Son.”  In this story, Jesus describes a son that runs away from home and loses all that he had taken with him.  When he returns to his family, his dad runs to him to embrace him, before he can even say he is sorry.  Before the son can do ONE thing to make things right, before he can clean himself up a little, before he can apologize, the dad meets him and welcomes him right into the center of his home.  Not only that, but he is celebrated by his father.  In all of his messiness, in all of his failure, in all of his brokenness, he is brought home.

I marvel at the way that Christianity has somehow become a religion that looks very little like the dad who brought his wounded son into the center of his home.  Christianity is often represented by people who require that you cover up those broken places or at least be on your way to healing before you are welcomed in.  The messages we often receive sound something like this:

“You might not need to be perfect, but you sure better be working toward getting better!”

“It’s best if you let those fractures heal a bit before you can truly belong.  It makes us uncomfortable and requires a lot of work to love you through.”

“At least pretend that you are okay.  Don’t talk too much about your longings or struggles.”

Though rarely said, these are often the messages that those of us imperfect people believe.

This was not the message of Jesus.  Nor is it a message that we should internalize. Rather, the message of the prodigal father is:

If we are broken, we are welcome– just as we are.

If we are hurting, we are brought into God’s arms- just as we are.

If we are fractured and far from healing, God says, “Welcome home” just as we are.

We can be patient with ourselves because God is.

We are often so like this rescued dog, Suds.  It takes time for our little guy to eat because his mouth hurts and he has lost his bottom teeth.  It takes offering food several times, out of our very hands, in order for him to finally take in the nourishment that he needs.

Aren’t we often the same way with God?  We are hurting and we don’t want to open our mouths to feed on His love because we don’t trust it.  We’ve had our nourishment denied us and we can’t quite believe that His kind of goodness exists.  We deeply believe that we need to fix ourselves before we can receive.

We don’t.

His hands are right in front of us, asking us to receive what we need.  He is patient.  He doesn’t force.  He is ready to bring us into the center of his heart to let us find home.

Receive from His loving and patient hand today.  Believe that you are welcomed, wanted and at home right in the midst of all that is fractured and broken in your life.  You are worthy of love just as you are.