Humpty Dumpty makes me sad. Or at least the story does. I never knew Humpty Dumpty. But I have known some people who have "had a great fall". Imagine someone sitting at the highest place of achievement in their life. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. The imagery pictured here is that Humpty Dumpty is in a safe place. The wall represents to me a high place of relative security...maybe Humpty had built the wall himself. That would be another reason to feel secure. To have arrived at the pinnacle of a self-made life can bring one to think that we truly are the masters of our universe, the "captains of our soul". When we are sitting on the top of our castle wall or at the pinnacle of our Wall Street kingdom, it's kind of hard to see ourselves anywhere else.
Have you ever wondered what Humpty was doing there…sitting on that wall? Perhaps he (or she) was reflecting on how good life really was or maybe how life had suddenly become so complicated. Perhaps Humpty was contemplating jumping off that wall or desperately trying to muster the courage to face another Humpty Dumpty day. Whatever the reason, I wonder if the fall was a total surprise. I wonder if Humpty could see the fall coming or was he totally blindsided? Was the fall self-induced or did it result from the actions of another? The familiar lines of the nursery rhyme do not answer these many questions. But we are told two hard, cold facts: The fall was great…The damage was beyond repair.
The Humpty Dumpty story is so sad because it mirrors the human condition. Some of us fall from high to low places. Some of us depend on all the king's horses and all the king's men to fix our brokenness. What we discover is that indeed all of these could not put Humpty Dumpty or our shattered lives together again. The part that makes this human scenario so sad is depending hopelessly on the king's resources and the king's men to fix broken lives. The tragic part is that we forget about the King. In God’s word, the Colossian letter begins with the proposition of truth that Jesus, the Christ was, is, and always will be the King of the Cosmos; He is the King of the created universe, all we know about and all that we don’t. The words in chapter one expound on the power of Christ to create and sustain all of creation. These words are a great source of encouragement and hope for those of us who have had some of those Humpty Dumpty Days.
And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17)
When the fall is great I can remember He is before all things. He knows about the fall before I have the great fall. Nothing can take place in my life that takes God by surprise. When no one can put my life back together, I can remember in Him all things hold together. He is the power that holds us together. He picks up the pieces and reassembles the parts.
Perhaps there is someone around you today that is in the midst of a Humpty Dumpty Day. You can spend a lot of time and energy trying to piece together what happened and who is responsible. Maybe they have tired out all the king's horses and have exhausted all the king's men. But instead of calling in CSI to examine the evidence to ascertain what went wrong, asking the never ending and seldom answered why questions, call on GOD to give hope and direction to the how questions. How do we survive these Humpty Dumpty days? Would you be the one to tell them about The Cosmic King who picked up your pieces and still holds them together?
Blessings to you,
Sam
No comments:
Post a Comment