broken

by Rebecca Irwin

Lately, it seems like everything around me was broken. My car was broken and then my husband's car was broken. A relationship in our family was definitely broken. People's bodies were broken. Toys were broken. Small things around the house were broken.

When Max or Jack break a toy, they cannot grasp the understanding that once broken, always broken. We cannot repair it back to its original state. We can attempt to restore its usefulness with glue or tape, but it becomes more fragile. It is not the same as it was before.

While packing for vacation, I was feeling very tired and grouchy, and the boys were running around the house like wild things. I had reached the end of my rope, and I snapped, yelling at them with a fierce face and an angry growl. Jack...began...to cry...and with tears in his eyes he looked at me and said, "Mama, you broke my heart.". And just then, my heart broke too.

It is amazing that God can take broken things, like my mothering, and not just restore me, but renew me from the inside out. He is the only God who can give us that hope! We can draw from his strength when we feel weak. We can learn from his patience when ours is gone. We can rest in His grace when we lose it.

Today, I asked Jack how his heart was and he replied, "Good, I have a new heart.". That's exactly what our God does for us.