Broken

My wife's Tahoe is broken.  I am not a mechanic so I really have no idea what is broken.  I just know that we had to take it to a mechanic to get it fixed. 

While many of us feel inadequate to the task of fixing cars, trucks, and the like, fixing a broken vehicle is often a relatively simple thing to do.  You take it to a mechanic, they look for what is broken, they put in a new piece to replace the broken one, and after paying them what feels like an arm and a leg (and you have no idea if what they did or what it costs was reasonable) you drive away no longer broken.

Broken people and broken relationships are much harder to fix.  Sometimes, when I listen carefully, it seems as if everyone is broken in one way or another.  Other times, when I am pushed down within myself, it seems as if I am the only broken person to ever walk the face of the earth. 

The broken parts of me caused me to act in ways that broken my most valued and intimate relationship.  A year ago, Tammy and I began working to fix the brokenness of our marriage.  We have had to rely on the grace of God often to bind us up just so we could make it another day.  There is no quick fix, pay the man, and drive down the road answers to this level of bring broken.  And sometimes, even now, Tammy and I can feel the scares and pain of the deep broken place where we were.

I cannot fix my wife's car.  I need a mechanic to do that.  I cannot totally fix myself.  I need the grace of God to heal my brokenness.  Tammy and I cannot fix the broken parts of our marriage alone, we too need the mercy of God's Spirit to bind and heal us.  So today, I just ask for a little more grace and mercy to fix what is broken.