Broken People


 As I sat in my house tonight, I heard my daughter yelling from my front yard, "Mom!" After a few screams and I still hadn't appeared, she progressed to calling my cell phone. As she quickly beckoned me outside, I found her standing over something moving in the beam of her cell phone light. As I approached, I saw that it was a fairly large bat with a broken wing. We were arguing over how to tell if it was alive while keeping my cat from feasting on it. I had the brilliant idea to scoot it with a dustpan from my broom. As I slowly lowered the dustpan under the bat, it began to flop towards my daughter and me. My husband drove up to both of us flapping our arms and squealing like the slugs from Flushed Away. We left my son and husband to handle the hurt bat and gladly took refuge in the house. Have you ever heard the phrase, "hurt people, hurt people?" In ministry, I've found that broken people tend to strike out at those trying to help them, much like the bat. It's so easy to say that you'll put up boundaries and shut out toxic people, but Jesus dealt with broken people a little differently. When Mary was overcome by demons, the Bible mentions she wasn't pleasant to be around. She could have even been considered dangerous to some. Jesus saw the broken girl inside and showed compassion that wasn't earned, but freely given. In a society of anger and bitterness, I challenge you to look beyond the flapping to see the broken one God wants to help. Show compassion, even when it's not earned.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!



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