Living with the mend and meant to be...

I watched the rain, beating against the kitchen window; holding out the elements in all its glory...

We have a cracked, broken picture window in the kitchen. It was broken a few years ago by the kids, uncaringly kicking their football in the backyard, the sort of thing kids do. I repaired the big window, temporarily at the time, by sticking a smaller pane of glass into position over the section that had been smashed and broken out. That window still bears that scar today...

We are still able to see through the window, if one squints a bit through the outline of the repaired section, and the bigger section is just fine for overall viewing beyond. It still keeps the wind and cold out. As an amateur artisan I can specutively vouch that it probably possesses greater resilience to a football than its peers. (Medically, I believe this to also be a fundamental truth; scarred skin tissue is by far stronger than normal skin) It may not exhibit the splendour of the adjacent windows (which have since been framed in aluminium with safety glass inserts); but it serves its purpose all the same.

It isn't that I cannot afford to replace that mended pane, or I haven't had the available time or inclination to replace it; I have even, on the odd occasion had cause to curse it, when it obscured my vision while following a scene being played out in the yard. - I think, subconsciously, I have left it as is, as a monument (a glaring reminder; one spends a fair amount of time in the kitchen) to the spirit of being mended and fulfilling one's place in the world.

While the 'mended' person may have a most sordid history, and maybe not look as good as the unscathed; such people should show off their 'scars', relate their flaws and revel in their healing with pride and purpose - Living testimonies to God's promises and mercy.

How stronger and more passionately beats that mended broken heart; how infinitely more loving and understanding the nature of that mended spirit - How wondrously that feeling of renewed wholeness encompasses our inner peace.

How magnanimously blessed we are to rediscover our true love, maybe with patches and a 'band-aid' here and there; but nevertheless complete again...

With the Lord's help and guidance, let's settle for what we need, rather than what we want ~ SB

(Gonna go spray the dust and dirt off that window right now - gonna take another peek through the flaws to a great world out there!)