A Lesson From Broken Beach Glasses

If you read my post yesterday, you know that I am at the beach this week. My routine is to take a prayer walk on the beach each morning as the sun is rising. I really enjoy walking and riding a bike on the beach. Today as I was walking I came across a pair of broken sunglasses. When a saw them I wondered what the backstory was. When did the sunglasses come off? Was the person wearing them in trouble? Were they far off in the ocean or close by? There is so much information I don’t know.

This pair of broken glasses reminded me of “broken people”. We all come across broken people. Some of them even have “washed” up on the shore of our lives. But what do we really know about most of them? Do we know their backstory? Do we know if they were raised in poverty and/or abuse? Were they sick? Were they a victim of crime or we they addicted to drugs? All of us need to be quick to listen and understand and slow to speak and judge. When we know someone’s backstory, we are much more likely to be able to help them during their time of brokenness.  Jesus knew the backstories of the Samaritan woman, Zaccheus, and the woman caught in adultery.  Knowing their backstories, He ministered to them most effectively.  Since we are not omniscient, we must take some time to get to know those who are broken around us so we too can be effective hands and feet of Jesus.