PUTTING HUMPTY DUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN
more
like Christ who created this new life within you.” Colossians 3:10
(The
Living Bible)
One
of my fondest memories as a young father was reading to our children. The acting out of nursery rhymes as we
chanted them together was always greeted with special delight. Little did I know then that one of their
favorites, Humpty Dumpty would become a description of my transition from being
a skeptic to a believer.
You
may recall the words of that simple verse:
Humpty
Dumpty sat on the wall,
Humpty
Dumpty had a great fall,
And
all the king’s horses and all the king’s men,
Couldn’t
put Humpty Dumpty together again!
I
now compare the efforts of the king’s men trying to put Humpty Dumpty together
again with my own struggle to put my life together again
after my separation and eventual divorce. I tried to regain wholeness through more
education, self-help books, doubling my efforts at my job, deep discussions
with sympathetic bartenders who listened while I cried in my beer, and other
worldly pursuits. All of these were only
band-aids in my feeble attempts to repair my brokenness. And in the end I concluded that the
children’s poem was exactly right: “All the king’s
horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again!
At
that point I re-discovered the One who could put me together again --- not
reforming me, not rehabilitating me, or even reeducating me; but through
re-creating me through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Only the King could do what the “king’s men”
weren’t able to accomplish. The efforts
of the “king’s men” were futile as they had not initially created me. Only the One who made me in the beginning
could put me together again. I have
come to believe that is what the Gospel is all about.
Is
my “new” life different? Very much
so! However, any of my friends or
acquaintances will attest that my halo is sometimes atilt and maybe at times
not even visible. Faith didn’t give me
all the answers. It didn’t make me a
better person than everyone around me.
But trying to follow Christ does do a very important thing for me; it
gives my life a sense of purpose. I
confess I do not know where I will end up in my life’s journey or even how long
a trip it will be. Further, I admit I am
not always sure what His plan exactly is for me. However, the one thing I do know: I will strive with the aid of the Holy Spirit
to serve Him in all I do until He calls me home. Amen