Brokenness

Today was a day of breaking things in our house – some days are just like that around here.  First, a dish hit our sink the wrong way during washing.  Then, a carton of eggs pummeled to the floor while someone was making cookies.  It feels significant that things would break on Ash Wednesday and appropriate to the spirit of the day.  Today marks the beginning of the Lenten season – a time when we focus on our own inadequacy and need for a Savior.  It is most definitely a day full of brokenness as we mourn the fact that we have fallen from our righteous state; let sin enter our hearts.  We are truly and completely broken and apart from God.  It is a dismal way to start a journey and if I’m honest, I don’t think I’d have the courage to even begin if I didn’t know how the story ends.  Thus, I am often tempted to skip straight to the happy ending, but when I do, I miss out on the beauty of the redemptive work God has for me in this season.  For the more we acknowledge our brokenness, the more we allow God to fill and repair those spaces; the more we become like Him.

I did not grow up in a church that traditionally emphasized Lent.  In fact, my first real experience with the season was in college when my roommate began talking about it.  She would comment daily about the lack of meat in her life and talk extensively about the big steak dinners she would prepare on the days she was allowed meat.  She was faithfully committed to the observance and it grew a curiosity within me.  Initially, I didn’t understand the “why” behind committing to this practice.  It wasn’t until I made a commitment to sacrifice various things in my own life (sugar, coffee, social media, etc.), that I came to understand the deeper meaning behind Lent. You see, the point is never about what I give up – I can never sacrifice more than God did on that first Good Friday.  The focus of the sacrifice is to allow it to draw me closer to God and to understanding His work on a deeper level.   Removing something of excess is meant to allow me to receive more of the loving, relational Savior.

So, we must focus on our brokenness this season, yet not remain stuck in our brokenness or our focus will remain on us.  Our brokenness is always meant to serve the purpose of pointing us to God’s perfection and to allow us to see our need for Him more fully. This process takes time and self-reflection, thus the value of a period of Lent.   It is through our inadequacy that we are able to see our need for the Savior.  If we skip to the end of the story, we will miss the significance – we will not comprehend how vital and complete and final the sacrifice needed to be. 

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:17