Broken

Took my bike to be repaired today. Had to book in online and choose a date and time that was free. I was the only person in the shop, so presumably the system works! I took it in, you may remember if you’re an avid reader of these blogs, because it broke. Well, part of it broke. The gear cable that changes the front cogs on the bike (I believe they may be called the chain cogs, although that may just be a name I gave them as a kid) is broken in some way and I can’t change those gears. To say the whole bike is broken is not true and in fact I’ve ridden it a couple of time just using one of the front cogs. But it is true to say that the bike is broken because it’s not how the maker intended it to work. And it’s not how I would like it to be. It makes it harder to ride, especially when if I were to ride on challenging roads or cycle paths. It would certainly make it very difficult to go on a red run (off road cycle routes are colour coded and red is one of the hardest, second only to black which is only for people with absolutely no fear).. If I want to ride the bike as it’s really made to be ridden, I need all the gears working. So I’ve taken it to be fixed. I need someone else to do that because I don’t have the knowledge or the tools to do the job. I could have a go, but I might make it worse. Bit like life really. I get broken in life. To be honest, the last year has broken me in many ways. I’ve had to face things I’ve never faced before and some of those things have left their marks and scars. Some of the brokenness can be mended with the help of wise people. I have a wise friend I talk to regularly and we work on fixing some of the broken parts. It’s takes a long time - or maybe that’s just me. Some of the brokenness I can fix myself by making better choices. But there are some things I can’t fix. There are some things I don’t want to admit are broken. I can exist and function quite well, or at least you would never know what’s broken. I’ve been doing that for years - and you’ve never noticed have you! And then there’s the stuff that is deep and profound and for which there is only one place to go. In the end, however it looks on the outside, in whatever form it comes, the healing of my brokenness is found at the cross. To come to the cross is to come to the great and magnificent love of God. It is to come to the one who was broken so that I might be healed. God, in his grace and love has given me the gift of others to help me, but he is the one who heals, He is the one who has my best interest at heart and who can make me whole. As we draw near again to the celebration of Easter, perhaps we would do well to bring our brokenness and invite God to be our healer. That’s what he wants. That’s what he longs to be and to do for us. We can pretend it’s otherwise and that life is fine and we can keep going on what works. We can do that if we want to. It won’t make him love us any less. He won’t think any less of us because we refuse to admit our brokenness. But we won’t be what we were created to be. When I get my bike back, who knows what I’ll be able to do. Maybe God wonders that about you and me and he’s just waiting to help us in our brokenness.