A Broken World of Broken Hearts

When our heart is broken, there is a part of us that wonders if we'll ever love again. It is the place where our childish dreams mock us and jade us. And we secretly vow that love has betrayed our trust for the last time. It always feels like someone died and then we realize that that person is us. Apparently, when we weren't looking, something went terribly wrong and we never really know how or why. All we know is that silent promises have been broken and our world has changed and we can never go back to the way it was. All the while, somewhere beneath the tears, God is drilling a much deeper well within us, in order to fill us with a more profound love. A love that will go farther than before. Hope and strength come from unlikely places to resurrect us, and we emerge stronger. And we are reminded that our brittle hearts are only safe in the hands of God. Only He is trustworthy of our deepest affections, and He will never betray us. Broken hearts are a blessing if they point us back in the right direction.

Love is always more powerful than we think. It has the power to wound and to heal, to crush and to save. We all know that when we invite love inside then we also host the danger of pain, and yet most of us feel that it is worth the venture. The ecstasy is worth the agony. In the end, feeling pain is better than feeling nothing. No good story is without conflict. There is a part of us that comes alive when our future is at risk. A first kiss makes your heart jackhammer in your chest because you feel as if you've just stepped over a ledge and you're not sure where you'll land. The heights of love are both exhilarating and terrifying. It scares those of us who like control. It always ruins our meticulous plans, and never tells us exactly where we're headed.

The thing about love is that it makes us forget everything else. It is a beautiful distraction from a shipwrecked world. A world full of countless reasons to stop believing in anything too good. Still, love travails through the wreckage of broken hearts, undeterred by all the evil and suffering. When love dawns, it seems that happiness is remembered as we forget why we are so unhappy. In those moments, we question if our hearts were ever really broken. And so the cycle continues. We love, we break, we love again. We are sick people, lovesick people. And God is the craziest one of all.

We say that our world is broken because of sin, but it runs deeper than that. It's a result of unrequited love. God offered us His mighty heart and we broke it. Everything was risked to make love possible. We wonder, was it worth it? Apparently, God thinks so. He foresaw the hell and the hate, and yet He wagered more than anyone. It seems that there is no such thing as love without consequences. Regardless, it is hard to imagine this life without love. We'd feel nothing. What reason would we have for living at all? In this ironic world, death makes way for new life. We love, we break, we love again.