Broken Crayons Still Color

I know how it feels to pity myself for being too needy with no one helping me. I know how embarrassing it is to ask for help and receive criticism and disgust instead. I have experienced guilt and shame, unworthiness, and hopelessness. I’ve been through worse.

Sometimes we think our lives are so messed up that we think we no longer matter, and we do not deserve anything good. We think less of ourselves because of what happened in the past. We may have been a victim of some terrible event, or we may have done something awful. We can’t move on from our mistakes, and we somehow think “this just needs to be.”

Broken. That’s how we describe ourselves.

But who isn’t?

From the physical or emotional beatings we receive almost daily because of life’s challenges, it’s only by God’s grace we’re still standing. We all have wounds. Some are visible, some are not. Some are still fresh; some have already turned into scars. Nevertheless, we are all wounded, in one way or another.

But broken crayons still color.

No matter how broken and wounded we think we are, we can still be a source of encouragement, joy, of blessing to others.

I love how Henry Nouwen puts it, “Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.”

There’s no shame in being broken, wounded, or scarred. Our default is to hide these because we think these are signs of weakness. But no, these are evidence of courage and strength! People who play it safe keep themselves scratch-free but growth seldom happens inside the comfort zone. It is always where we struggle and where we develop our muscles.

Imagine a broken crayon in the hands of a skilled artist. For sure, he can still produce a masterpiece that no one would ever believe came from broken pieces! Now think of your story in the loving hands of God. If He can speak life in existence, imagine what He can do with your broken pieces!

Our past mistakes don’t define us. Our scars don’t make us less of a person. We still deserve grace. We are still worthy of love. Our past is just earlier chapters of an ongoing beautiful story. The book isn’t finished yet, and the best part is yet to come!

The challenge for us now is to embrace our call as wounded healers. We can help others mend their wounds as we lift their spirits so they will not sulk and stay defeated. We can encourage them to move forward from being in pain to seeing how they can grow despite their pain. And they can do the same with other wounded too! We can be an army of wounded healers helping one another.

Brokenness can both be a place of despair or healing. Despair when it becomes an end in itself. Despair when we end up stuck and with no intention to move on. But it can also be a place of healing. Our wounds can be an inspiration to people who are as broken as we are. Our brokenness can give them hope that they are not alone, and that they are not hopeless cases. We can bring them life and encouragement. We can be a part of the army of wounded healers.