"We're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again." --P!nk, "Just Give Me a Reason"
Throughout life, everyone has something of theirs that is broken. As a small child, it might be a favorite toy. For teens and adults, it might be a phone or an electronic device. Those are the materialistic things, but what about the things that we share with others? I’m not talking about any tangible item, but rather something intangible. Relationships, to be specific.
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Remember as a child when you and your best friend used to argue about who was going to play who in the game of “house,” or when they ate some of your snack—your favorite snack—without asking? Those were situations that you could easily mend within five to 10 minutes and everything would go back to the way it was as if nothing ever happened. As you got older, life began to get more complicated, as did the situations. You two no longer fought about who you were going to play in “house,” but rather who was the one who said those nasty things about you behind your back. Or, who was going to be the one who dated the boy you both had insanely big crushes on, or who stole whose boyfriend.
On the note of relationships, you might face problems with yours. You’re going to have those small bumps in the road that (might) get easily fixed, or those big fights where the issue becomes more of a problem down the road. When you eventually end things, it’s either going to end really well or really badly. Maybe you and your crush are in the “flirtationship” stage and everything seems to be fine and all of a sudden he up and leaves you for another girl. Despite the fact that he says it’s for the best, you are convinced that he’s “the one” and you still have hope that there’s a chance for you both in the future. You try your best to stay back as much as you can, checking in on him every so often and try to be “friends” like he said you guys could be, even though you know he’s putting as little effort as possible into that. Eventually, you get the mindset of “what’s the use, everything is so one-sided?”
My friends, not everything is meant to be fixed. The bible says this:
Let's focus on the broken cisterns part of this verse. The people in this passage have made cisterns, but they are ones that are broken and cannot hold any water and therefore serve their purpose. These are things that are already broken, and by using the cisterns it only makes the matter worse.
Later on in the New Testament, Paul tells Timothy the following:
We fight for things that aren't worth fighting for. We fight for things and run towards things that are already broken, just like those cisterns. On the other hand, God wants us to "love the Lord your God with everything in you, and love thy neighbor as you love yourself" (Luke 10:27).
I remember the first time I heard this at service a year ago. At this point, I was in the midst of a very ugly relationship that I was trying very hard to fix. I heard it, but I didn’t actually process it and apply it to my real life. I was so sure that I was able to fix everything that was wrong in my relationship.
Fast forward to almost a year later. I had been out of that ugly relationship for a few months and I was beginning to rebuild myself again, both personally and spiritually. I had moved on from my ex and was interested in another guy, but things were a bit one-sided on my end. I listened to this service again (via Podcast), and afterwards I sat there for a while and actually took the time to process everything. How incredible, I thought, that God has broken these things in my life on purpose for a specific reason, and He wants me to listen to Him and not do anything to try and fix it. He wants me to fight the good fight of faith, a fight that is worth fighting for.
That night, I got home and went to my messages. I found the text thread my crush and I had, and I deleted it.
It’s broken. Leave it be. Fight the good fight.
Let me just tell you, a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders and doors were opened wide. I was no longer boxed in and focused on something that would never happen. I had places I could go, people I could see and meet. More importantly, I felt this presence in the room. It's kind of hard to describe, but all I know is that God was definitely there and that I felt this overwhelming feeling of happiness and love. That was good enough for me.
I know giving up on something you really want to have happen is one of the most difficult things you will encounter throughout your entire life. In retrospect, you will be so grateful that you did it. Fight the good fight of faith, and leave the broken things be. You might not think so now, but it is definitely worth it.
