How Broken is BROKEN?

I've been in church for a loooooooong time.  I remember mid-90's young adult get togethers where we earnestly sang about longing for holiness followed by the ardent refrain "Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for.  Brokenness is what I neeeeeed.  Brokenness is what you waaaant from meeeeeee.."   I'm so glad that time travel is not a thing yet.  Because if I could go back to that room on that night I'd laugh myself silly.  "GIRLFRIEND!  You do not know what you ask for!!"

Brokenness is at a whole new level as a mom.  Before I would identify with it as getting passed over for a promotion that only I was convinced I deserved, not catching the eye of that babe over there in the polo shirt with flat-front khaki's, or dual-faced girlfriends that followed the Godfather's advice of "keeping your enemies closer."  Today it's the soul crushing realization that I'm not all that I thought I was cracked up to be pre-baby, pre-husband, or pre-"Suzy-homemaker".  I really think we ALL can relate. Can't you?

But there's a real danger in dwelling on this kind of brokenness.  There's a real threat in our spiritual life if we declare this brokenness as being truly broken.  How many times have you heard yourself or another mom declare "Welp, 'mom-of-the-year' over here!!" when she hands her kids a well balanced lunch of cold hot dogs, string cheese, and a Fig Newton  (cough, cough, AHEM!!).   It's hard not to get caught up in these failures of expectation, of what we wish we could do or be, and label ourselves as the worst among the worst.  An article I read recently said, "If everything is failure, then nothing is. We warp our perception of sin when feeding my child Cheetos for breakfast qualifies me for worst mom ever."

Here's the true threat:  We hold on to our failures as unforgiveable, un-redeemable sins.  I do it wrong and I say to myself, "UGH!  I never change!  My kids will only ever know me as that mom that freaks out about stupid stuff."  But Titus 2:11-13 says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age."

God's grace is a living and active power.  A transforming power.  The power to turn you into something that you've never dreamed you could become.  More like Christ:  loving, patient, compassionate, sacrificial, etc.  The more we know of him the more we become LIKE him. It's his grace living and active in my life because of being in contact with him.  There's a little more to it than that phrase "quiet time", which in and of itself causes it's own feeling of failure for most moms.  We need to actively take part in living a self-controlled, upright and godly life by tapping into the power of God's grace.  The difference is that the power to succeed is recognized not as OUR power but as God's power working through us.

If we fail, and we will, God's grace is right there waiting (cue Richard Marx in the background) to cover our hearts.  To remove the condemnation and to encourage us to try again.

*This post was inspired by this article.  Please click over and read it!*

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 Source:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2013/july/very-worst-trend.html?paging=off