Broken People

There has been something bouncing around on my Facebook Page today. It is the subject of broken people, people who have been crushed by life.

C.S. Lewis wrote that a man has to knocked silly before He comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Fenelon wrote, "You must lose everything to find God for Himself alone. But you won't lose everything until it is ripped from you. You won't begin to let go of yourself until you have been thrown off a cliff! He takes away to give back to you in a better way."

I don't remember exactly when it was but sometime ago as I listened to a speaker I made this discovery: Only the ones who have had deep pain in their lives are worth listening to. It was quite a moment for me. I have grown in that belief from that moment until now. People who have their hearts broken can comfort like no one else can. They know how to listen. They know the emptiness of words without painful experience so they have ceased to use them.

God's school of brokenness has few enrollees and even fewer graduate. The ones who do are the ones with something to say. Look for them, listen to them and pity those who are trying to say something without that indispensible commodity of heartache and a broken spirit.