Broken Over Broken Pieces

Trying to reach for better toys, my two year got a hold of my six year old's ceramic tea set. I became aware of this transfer when I heard the pieces crashing to the ground. Luckily most of it was salvaged, but many were broken. The owner of said tea set was in instant tears, leaving the guilty party confused and curious about what had just happened. I tried comforting my daughter by saying, "It's ok, it's ok. We'll be able to fix some of it." She continued to cry for a while, but had hope that her awesome, crafty, skillful momma would come to the rescue! 

But not all brokenness can be made right by us, yeah?

Most times, all the apologies of the world can't bring back what was lost or mend what is broken. Validation can only feel as good as that chocolate fix you eat once in a while.... (or if you're like me, everyday... ) Or better yet, it's like a pacifier made out of sugar, that dissolves over a short amount of time, leaving you to the inevitable crash later. (surely I'm not the only one with my hand raised for being guilty of this) 

Then you have the self pity. Oh Lord, the self pity! It's one thing to share your story to comfort others and let them in on all you've been through to show you've survived. It's quite another thing when you are in your closed quarters, feeling sorry for yourself, wallowing in "woe is me" attitude over all your trials and tribulations. 

Truth is self pity doesn't work. Why? Because everyone has something going on, right now, that weighs heavy. Everyone has some kind of turmoil around them, whether it be family, finances, marriages, kid problems, abuse, neglect, stresses from too many people depending on them. 

It's hard stepping outside of yourself, and look across the table and actually "see" the person in front of you. Do you see their tired eyes? Do you see the tears behind their smile? Have you even asked them how they are doing? 

If you've ever seen mosaic art, you know that these artists take all these broken pieces of all these different things and do something amazing with them. So many colors of the brokenness pieced together to design this beautiful picture. 

It's ok to feel broken. It's normal. It's human. But the beauty of it is that we are not broken alone. We are one big broken mess. We are being used in differently ways according to our broken unique selves. The Grand Designer is at work. 

I glued what I could to help fix my daughter's tea set. But some of it, I had to throw away. Thank God, it's not my responsibility to fix people.