Part 1: “TRANSCENDING BROKENESS”

It is often a challenge as human beings to recognize & live into the fact that we are all created by God to be more than mere flesh & blood bodies walking the earth. Our bodies are so visible & demand so much attention that when the body is limited or broken, we tend to set everything else aside & view ourselves as strictly “sick” or “less than others” in some way & we subsequently can & often do, allow that to become our identity. When sickness or brokenness becomes our identity, consciously or unconsciously, we diminish our living & give up hope, thus becoming hopeless about any whole healing taking place. It is easy to forget that as beings living created in the very image of God, we are comprised of not only a physical body but are also comprised of a mind & a Spirit. The reality is that by God’s design all three: mind, body & Spirit overlap & intersect to create the Soul of a person.

The soul is the personalized expression of our indwelling Divine Spirit & as such it is in the Soul where all hope for our whole living lies. There can be only limited, temporary wholeness if hope is absent. In order to fully transcend brokenness & the dis-eases & limitations that are part of earthly life, we need all three parts: our mind, our body & our spirit to intersect in the Soul. When all three of the component parts that make up a human being are in harmony with skillful engagement of God’s gift of grace & subsequently of hope, living in a spirit of wholeness is possible regardless of what brokenness is present. 

As human beings our body is the physical aspect of our being that houses our soul. It is through our bodies that we connect with the physical world & it is through the physical world that we come to know our transcendent God who exists in all living things. When our bodies are broken or limited in some way, we are challenged to find ways to adapt ourselves through our mind, our body & our spirit so that we are healed & whole, able to fulfill the purpose that God intended for us, for God blessed each one of us with a purpose for our lives. Regardless of what form the brokenness is caused by: illness, accidents causing broken bones, etc., all incidents of physical limitations offer us opportunities to make choices that transcend the brokenness & thus increase our quality of life & the fulfillment of God’s purpose for us in life.

The question is, are we, with patience & a heart of hopefulness & trust in God’s transcendent healing grace going to skillfully engage with what is unfolding for us or are we going to give into the limitations & focus on things that are “not” rather than on what we have to be grateful for?  When we are less than whole or unbalanced in some way be it; physically broken, mentally unsettled, or spiritually lost, in order to even begin to step into the opportunity to skillfully engage with what is unfolding for our healing, we have to hold some sense of hope, some faith that our Holy living, transcendent, creator God, is walking with us & will guide us to whole living in one form or another.

“We do not live to ourselves, & we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord & if we die, we die to the Lord, so then, whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord’s.”  (Romans 14:7). Though we may be tempted to choose our own path, quoting Teresa of Avila; “It is presumptuous to wish to choose our path, because we cannot tell which path is best for us. We must leave it to the Lord, who knows us, to lead us by the path, which is best for us, so that in all things His will may be done.”