I've been thinking. Writing Ebun's story (my last post) really did something to me that I can't even articulate yet. Thus I went to Hyde Park yesterday to get "fresh air" but somehow ended up watching people. Yes, I sat down and watched people, it's called 'people watching' apparently. Anyway, I was there for a very long time and just when I thought my mind was empty and got up to leave, surprise surprise, Ebun's story filled my head once more. And I started thinking again.
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Then I got something. Ebun's story is her story but everybody has a story like that. A dark story hidden somewhere in their lives. I tried to imagine the stories behind some of the people I saw, and as you probably guessed, I couldn't. We have perfected the art of covering our stories. Nobody on this earth hasn't been broken. Well, maybe except the children under age one and it's just a matter of time before something breaks them. When I sat and watched everyone regardless of what they were doing, I realized something. When we are all born, we are clay pots and unfortunately, none of us come in a box clearly labelled "Fragile" so life doesn't get the memo. And life is clumsy and rough.
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Sooner or later, it drops the clay pot and either breaks it completely the first time or creates a crack in it. A crack that'll probably be joined by a lot more cracks as the clay pot ages. Just before I left the park to get myself a drink, I searched my mind for a solution. If we are all manhandled due to no or very little participation from us, surely there must be a remedy. There must be some sort of glue to keep the cracks from shattering the pot completely and there must be some sort of glue to put back a completely shattered pot. What is that glue and where can we find it?
I watched a mother or maybe it was a nanny or an auntie bend to kiss a little girl on her forehead in a stroller and the answer slapped me hard across my face. Then I slapped my forehead and wondered why I didn't see it since it was so obvious. One word. Love. And it is all around us. Life is the problem and love is the solution. Believe it or not, as long as you are born of man and woman, life is the problem. It just happens to you no matter how much you think you control it. Fair enough, some people ignore the cracks and put on a brave face for the world and tell us that life doesn't happen to them while other people ogle and wish they were them. Some others, are broken completely from such a young age that they spend thier whole lives trying to put back the pieces. But the honest truth is that, we all have cracks and sometimes we break.
If you ever listen to the true story of people who've been broken but are fixed or put together or mended, you'll find a common factor. And that common factor is love. The healing always begins with love.The amazing part of love being the solution is that, it is a seed. When you sow love into a person's life, and help glue the pieces together, that clay pot may not be perfect but it is whole and now has the ability to sow love into another clay pot and help fix that pot too.
There's a twist though. Because we don't realise we are all either broken or cracked, we mastered the art of hiding our brokenness. The problem with that is, because so many of us never show the cracks or broken pieces, the true healing love eludes us. As you have probably realized, human beings are busy. So, if you are not willing to expose the cracks and pieces, they walk right past you. Why is it so difficult for us to expose our cracks and broken pieces? Simple. It's painful and so many other people live like their clay pot hasn't even been scratched, so we feel alone. Well, news flash, it has. Infact it probably looks like yours and just because they cover it, doesn't mean it's whole. Incredibly, humans are willing to pour love onto broken pieces once they see it's broken. Our creator, gives us the problem, the solution and goes a step further by making the solution a reaction to exposure of the damage the problem causes (you should probably re-read this sentence). If that isn't amazing, I don't know what is.
I have different messages for everyone. For the ones hiding their pieces and making their clay pots look flawless, please tone it down a notch. You are human and life has manhandled you too just like the person beside you, accept it. You need to, to receive the healing love you need and to also give others the courage to reveal their flaws. For the ones still shattered and broken, drop all the ways you are trying to cover the clay pot up, it's obviously not working and expose yourself to the love around you. Before anyone says there is no love around them, there is. It's in your child's eyes or your friend's eyes, or your sister's eyes, or brother's eyes, or mother's eyes or father's eyes or even that stranger's eyes, just waiting to be sparked. The most beautiful part of this story? That love is sparked the moment you lift off everything you're covering your clay pot with. So please, I dare you to do two things today. One, expose and embrace your brokenness so you can be healed and put back together. Two, love someone like you see their shattered pieces or cracks.
Have a wonderful day!
With all my love,
Dara Rhodes
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