“Clothe yourselves with humility . . .

 God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5

What does it mean to be broken?  When have you been broken?  What is it that broke you?  Was it some unexpected tragedy in life?  Was it the overwhelming sense of grief at the death of a loved one?  Was it something that happened to you, or maybe something that someone else did to you?  Getting fired from a job, evicted from a home or excommunicated from a church, being verbally or even physically assaulted, robbed, raped or in some other way violated by a perpetrator?   Or maybe it was something that you brought on yourself.  Was it a life-altering decision made in the mindlessness of being caught up in the moment, like drinking and then driving and getting a DUI.   Or maybe it was some other action that was the result of what seemed to be a good idea, maybe even undertaken with the best of intentions, but turned out badly?  What is it that plunged you into your own personal dark night of the soul?  What is it that left you feeling most days, and for most of every day, like your bones and body were ground to dust, that your spirit and soul were dried up, that your thoughts a jumble and your mind was a mess and you were incapable of making even the most basic life decisions, like whether to get out of bed or what clothes to wear.

To be broken, yes even shattered, and completely stripped of one’s most valuable possession, namely one’s sense of meaning and purpose in life and a healthy, whole and holy view of oneself, is not pleasant.  In fact, it is painful.  Painful to the extreme.  But there is something positive that can, and often times does result from such an experience; Humility.

Humility is under-valued in society, culture and even the church.  When was the last time you saw an example of humility? Not false humility in which a person does something that appears to be kind or merciful in order to be recognized by others for their action.  That is called “virtue signaling”, sending some sign or signal so that someone will see what a good person you are and you receive acknowledgement, admiration, accolades and adulation.  That is false humility,  and unfortunately quite commonplace even and especially among religious people.   Humility is not defined by actions but by attitudes.  To be humble is to simply be human.  To see oneself as we really are.  Genuinely.  And being broken is the quickest path to remind us of our humanity and lead us to humility.

When one embraces their brokenness and humanity the result is wholeness, health, and yes, even genuine holiness.  No longer do we live in the illusion and under the delusion that somehow we are better than others, that “bad” (one must be careful to place a value judgment on something or someone that is good or bad) things shouldn’t happen to us in life, or that if God really loved us He wouldn’t allow such a tragedy to take place.  Our brokenness leads to the kind of wholeness that is illustrated by the youngest son in the Parable of the Prodigal that Jesus told.  We are able to see ourselves and our lives as we truly are, and in so doing return home to be embraced by our loving Father.  And, having been welcomed, loved, forgiven and embraced, do the same for others. 

We can welcome others, no matter who the other is, what their beliefs or opinions are, what positions they hold or jobs they have or houses they live in.  All of that doesn’t matter.  We can love others for who they are, not for what they have or haven’t done, for we recognize on a deep level that it is love that sought us out in our darkness.  It is love that heals our hearts, that whispers encouraging words in our ears, that sings angelic music into our souls.  We can forgive others, for we see how much we have been forgiven; how inestimable the worth of the mercy and grace that has been lavished upon us even and especially in our brokenness.  And we can embrace the other person,  not with pretense or pride, but with a genuine and sincere love, seeing ourselves as being no different than the other person, no better or worse, but sharing a common humanity, and thus united as one.  By being broken we have a much greater degree of compassion and empathy for others.  Living in the broken wholeness of humility gives us a different perspective on ourselves, on others, and even on God. 

The broken wholeness of humility.  Ponder that concept for a moment.  What does that mean to you?  What does it mean in the current cultural climate? And what does it mean as we journey on this path to being wholly and holy human?