The Plumbline

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those whose spirits are crushed. (Psalm 34:18) We live in a world where there are many 'broken' people. To be broken means one's life has been reduced to fragments; ruptured, torn, fractured; is not functioning properly; is somehow incomplete; or that it has been infringed upon or violated. This is exactly how each and every one of us arrives at the feet of Jesus. Somehow, whether through our own choices, or the impressions others leave in our lives, we arrive reduced to fragments, not functioning as we should, and sometimes just plain violated by another. It isn't that our lives are perfect, and we finally come to the feet of Jesus - we bring him the messiness of our lives and he welcomes them with open arms.  One of the songs which really ministers to my spirit is the one by Casting Crowns that expresses this thought of being "Broken Together". If you haven't heard it, there is a part of the song which...

On a recent post from Spirit Science on their Facebook page, I saw this little quote which made me grateful for all three: " Wrinkles mean you laughed, gray hair means you cared, and scars mean you lived !" I am seeing more wrinkles, so I must be laughing a lot. I have developed quite a few more gray hairs over the past two years, so I must be doing my share of caring. I have also developed a plethora of scars (both seen and unseen) - so I think I have done a lot of living, as well!  There is a way of living which helps me move beyond those scars, though.  It is life in the presence of God himself.  The internal and external scars of life can only be mended by his hand - no other "fix" remains fixed.  I know this because I have tried to "heal" broken places of my life by my own doing and let me just assure you, the mess I make of it produces nothing more than a Keloid Scar.  In a technical sense, a Keloid Scar is one that doesn't know when to quit...