Broken-Hearted (Day 1 from Letters to a Friend)

 

BROKEN HEARTED

 

I was going through a notebook of poems my uncle wrote, that was given to me after he passed away, when I ran across one titled My Song. The first stanza reads, “When the days seem long and dreary when my heart with pain is weary when I just can’t find the strength to carry on.”  This just about says it all. I have had a lot of heartache in my life and carried the scars for many years, but when I became a Christian, 40 years ago, the Lord has taken all the ugliness and transformed it into a vessel He could use. However, there is one area that has proved to be my weak spot, my family, there is nothing more important to me on this earth and nothing that can hurt me more. 

To me family should be a place of unconditional love and respect; as well as a place of forgiveness and compassion, above all, it should be a place where you can feel safe, not only to express yourself freely without aggression. In other words, home and family should be a safe haven. Unfortunately in today’s ever-changing society there are bound to be disagreements. However, in the end, you should be able to agree to disagree, accept one other’s point of view, and respect their decision, but the most important thing is to love each other unconditionally.

         In my uncle's poem he writes; “When the days seem long and dreary when my heart with pain us weary.”  When your heart is broken and you need someone to talk to, and there is no one you feel you can call or you lose your sense of belonging resulting in long and dreary days—that is called emotional loneliness.  And, that my friend is a bad place to be. God knows the hardships loneliness can cause that why in Psalm 68:6 we are told He settles the solitary—the lonely, in a home—a family, because they will never be alone, and will always be shown love, and acceptance. As His children, we are taught through His Word, to give Him all our anxieties because He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. But, if you are like me, it takes a few days before we give it to Him so we can begin to heal emotionally.

The last part of the first stanza says, “When I just can’t find the strength to carry on.”  Can I be honest with you for a minute by asking you, “Do you know where your strength went?”  I do, your emotional loneliness and not going to the Lord, in the beginning, has drained the fight right out of you! Instead of saying to yourself right in the beginning, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” you dwelled on the hurt, playing over and over the conversation or circumstances in your head until you became weary and your strength is gone. When it comes to my family I’m so emotionally involved I can’t think straight and I get hurt every time. Until I can find a quiet spot and drown out my thoughts I am unable to hear His voice saying, “. . . Be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”