The Tribune

By Rev. Angela Palacious

When something is broken that can be repaired, it is important to pick up all of the pieces. These fragments are all a part of a whole and will need to be returned to their rightful places. Similarly, if we take something apart in order to fix it, we have to know where everything came from in order to restore it.

What are the missing pieces in our broken lives? How do we need the Lord to restore us?

1. Comforting Community: This is what our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, intends for the Church to become for each individual who visits or joins. Since some of us are suffering from isolation and alienation from a loving and supportive group of person, the Church is supposed to be the place to discover relationships that feel like the care and attention of members of a close-knit extended family.

2. Inner Healing: Memories may be so powerfully oppressive that experiences from childhood seem to have happened only yesterday. Inner healing helps us to pick up the pieces of our shattered self-esteem and our battered trust of others and of God. Prayer, counselling and time may all work together to make sense of what has happened, to make peace with our own innocence, ignorance or gullibility.

3. Forgiveness: This is often the first step toward reconciliation, particularly when a sincere apology has been offered and accepted. If there is any likelihood of danger or ongoing abuse, then the forgiveness is a placing of the situation in God’s hands while we remain at a safe distance. Forgiving ourselves is sometimes even harder, especially if we failed to resist the temptation with all available resources and reserves. God’s forgiveness is always available to us if we are willing to admit our need for it and accept it humbly.

4. Recognition of our Worth: The cross is the symbol of how much we are cherished. As we begin to open ourselves to the grace of God, we are slowly transformed. We are each precious, unique and gifted. This has to become our own path that leads to loving ourselves and loving our neighbour.

5. Total Dependence on God: When we consider our sinfulness and generally rebellious spirit, we realize that we cannot help ourselves or our people in any lasting way if we do not submit ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We mean well for the most part but we are not able to save ourselves from ourselves.
   
   

When something is broken, we send it back to the manufacturer. When we are broken, we need to turn to our Creator who fashioned us in the divine image. We were designed to respond to God’s unconditional love with a wholly committed and heart-felt love, to thrive in an atmosphere of mutual love with others, and to find wholeness in holiness as we celebrate who we are in Christ.

Why don’t we pick up the pieces of our personal lives, and of our national lives, and give ourselves over to God’s healing and restoring power?