“We are all wonderful, beautiful wrecks. That’s what connects us–that we’re all broken, all beautifully imperfect.” ~Emilio Estevez
Dear Universe,
When I was a kid it would seem like the end of the world when I would break a toy. Even with glue or tape, it made me sad to see that no matter how hard I tried, the toy would just never be the same.
As I got older, I realized that the same was true for people too.
As adults we all face our share of broken hearts, broken spirits, broken hopes and broken dreams. We feel we will never be the same when any part of our deepest self is shattered.
And that’s okay.
The other day I was in Boston waiting for the T, when I noticed this sign.
“Brokenness Made Beautiful.”
Though it was an advertisement for a new church in Boston, it was the background with the mosaic pieces that caught my eye.
A mosaic is an example of how broken pieces can come together to create something striking, touching and long-lasting.
It made me think of people. When parts of us break, we think we will never be put back together the same way, that we are somehow scarred for life—that everyone can see our broken pieces and it makes us somehow less beautiful, less perfect, less loveable.
It doesn’t.
The parts that break somehow come back together, not to the way they were, but to the way they are meant to be. Fragments fit together, shaping a new image of who we are growing into and who we are becoming. The spaces and the colors in between are part of what makes our picture complete. The ragged edges, sharp lines and rounded corners somehow make broken look beautiful.
“Broken glass. It’s just like glitter, isn’t it?” ~ Pete Doherty
I’ll try to remember that the next time I am feeling a little broken. I’ll look back at the moments from my past that all helped to mold my mosaic into what it is today—not a perfectly constructed person, but exactly the person I am supposed to be. It will give me faith in those times that things will eventually come together precisely the way they need to.
They somehow always do.
Thank you for the reminder that in our darkest moments we can all rise above—not to go back to who we were—but to become a newer, better version of ourselves.
And that suits me just fine.
Much Gratitude,
A
