Brokenness

The parking lot by the church on the corner is old. The parking space lines can barely be seen anymore. There are small hills and valleys made by roots from trees that are not close enough to even be seen.

If you drive by just before sundown, when the sun's light is coming at you almost horizontally you can see it. You can see the cracks in the pavement. They are everywhere.

Time and heat and cold and roots have done this.

The parking lot is broken.

But, if you drive by just before sundown, you know, when the light is coming at you almost horizontally you can see more than just the cracks...grass and weeds are growing up through those cracks.

The life that had been hidden and pressed down and buried beneath the tar and asphalt is re-emerging.

Brokenness- it sounds like a negative...

but in the Kingdom it is inevitable. That asphalt and tar covered the earth and its life the way a callous covers a toe, the way crusty old stone stuff covers our hearts.

Until the Lord comes and starts the process of cracking us the life remains hidden beneath that grotesque stuff we have used to 'protect' us for so long.

I love the parking lot by the church...it reminds me of my heart and even though the stuff of life has hammered away at it, I get to see the life that has been hidden for so long coming up through the cracks reaching toward the sun. What had been hidden underneath was no good to anyone until it broke through the cracks...

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give
praise. ~Psalm 57:7
O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with
my glory. ~Psalm 108:1
Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is
fixed, trusting in the Lord. ~Psalm 112:6&7