Great Quote - Don't Bypass Any of These Three Truths!

I caught an interview with Robert Wagner on Good Morning America this week, and he gave a quote by U.S. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Eugene O'Neill that bears repeating again and again:

We are born broken.
We live by mending.
God's grace is the glue.

I have witnessed so much unnecessary suffering that people either bring on themselves by ignoring one or all three of these truths. For a person to live abundantly he or she must:

Realize his or her own brokenness. (Blaming others just doesn't help!) Remember, there are only two kinds of people in the world: messed up ones who know it, and messed up ones who don't!

Be intentional about getting better at living and at responding to adversity. (Too many people let their feelings and emotions "dictate" reactions to circumstances that can add unnecessary damage to an already negative situation.) James reminds us, "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (1:19,20)for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

And finally, realize that in your brokenness and in the process of mending, God provides His unmerited, unearned favor (love, healing, salvation, power, truth, wisdom, etc.) daily into the process of growth and transformation. Paul knew the power of God's grace, even in the midst of dealing with his painful "thorn in the flesh." In 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 he writes, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So remember: We are born broken. We live by mending. God's grace is the glue.