Have you ever wondered why we save broken things? I remember going through my daughter’s toy box when she was a child, finding what were once treasures, now in varying states of disrepair ~ like her “Clowny” doll with a broken arm, or a favorite puzzle with missing pieces. Somehow we just didn’t have the heart to throw away those special toys. I wonder how many trash bins we could fill if we disposed of all the broken things that are stashed in closets, junk-drawers and our kids’ toy boxes. What makes us so reluctant to throw things away ~ even broken things? Maybe it’s our eco-friendly, conservationist desire to recycle. Or perhaps it’s a need deep within us to be fixers. Or perchance, it’s a part of God’s character shining through us that longs to see things restored.

After all, God is the master at making broken things whole. Oh, not our children’s toys or our old electronics. God mends something much more important ~ broken people. And aren’t we all far more broken than we would like to admit? Think about the husband, wounded and broken by an abusive father. Or the woman, torn apart by parents who abandoned her as a child. Or an alcoholic adult who, as a child, watched his own whiskey-filled father beat his mother. Or a wife who aches for love and acceptance from a husband too emotionally wounded to have anything inside of him to give. Oh yes ~ we are all broken in one way or another.

And sadly, instead of looking to the One who has the power to restore us, we look to each other ~ yearning for someone in our lives to mend our brokenness. One broken person hoping upon hope to find restoration and healing in the love of another broken person. Both are aching for wholeness, looking to the other to fill needs that neither can ever satisfy. Just as broken toys can’t fix broken toys, neither can one broken person mend another. Yet that’s what we try to do every day as marriages are destroyed, families are split and friendships are ended because we expect others to fill our needs. And when our spouse, parent, child, or friend does not meet that expectation because of their own brokenness, we become hurt, angry, or simply remain trapped in the loneliness and pain of yet another broken relationship. And so the legacy of pain and disappointment goes on from generation to generation, one marriage to another, one friendship to the next. We are like broken toys ~ looking for healing among the broken pieces in someone else’s junk filled toy box.

All the while, the Toy Maker Himself is whispering, “Come! Bring your broken lives to me. I long to make you like new.” In a bible study I recently taught, someone shared a life lesson she had learned about entrusting her needs and brokenness to God. She told the story of a little child who brought a broken toy to her mother saying, “Mommy ~ fix it!” The mother took the child’s toy and began to examine it, but before her strong capable hands could do their work, the child snatched the toy back into her own small, clumsy hands and said “I do it!”

What a vivid picture of the way we “give” our troubles and brokenness to God. We come before our maker saying, “Help me Lord. Fix this. Do that. Heal this. Rebuild that…” And then we proceed to seek our renewal from the broken people around us, or even from within our own shattered selves. We expect to heal our own hurts, mend our own wounds, and resolve our own trials. Oh yes, God can and often does use us in each others’ lives to bring about His healing. But when we only look to each other for our wholeness, instead of to Him, we give our loved ones an impossible task.

It’s time we realize that we are broken and so are the people we love. When will we understand that the only way to fix what is broken, is by taking our ‘pieces’ the Master Toy Maker? He is waiting. He longs to mend our wounds. He promises to make us whole so that our relationships can be healthy, so we can reflect His love to the other broken people around us and so He can use us in each others’ lives.

Today, as you read these words

~ Recognize your brokenness.

~ Acknowledge the brokenness in those you love.

~ Admit that your expectations of others may be too much for another broken person to fulfill.

~ Decide that you will no longer look to another broken human being to meet all your needs.

~ Choose to bring all your broken pieces to the Master Toy Maker.

Then, watch what He will do. Allow God to mend you. Ask Him to help you give your loved ones permission to be broken. And ask God to give them the strength and courage to bring their brokenness to Him. Let’s clean out our junk filled toy boxes ~ not throwing away what is broken, but taking it instead to the Master Toy Maker ~ the One who has the power to restore!