How Many Broken Things Do You Tolerate?

431786001_82c5e3ff32_mLast week it hit me- I tolerate broken things.  It might be a result of working in ministry or in being trained to take the long view.  It might be a result of human sinfulness which then produces imperfection.  Whatever it's from, brokenness is all around.

What's on my list of broken things?

  • The downstairs wallpaper in the hall that is peeling in one corner

  • The side door in my wife's van

  • The right closet door in one of our bedrooms

  • The drain thingee in the upstairs bathroom

  • The dash mount for my GPS


And I could go on and on.  Three interesting observations here-

  1. I admittedly tolerate these broken things, walking by them every day. The more I walk by, the less they bother me.

  2. Each one is on a list, waiting to be addressed at some point in the future. Some I can fix on my own and others just vex me.  No one has mistaken me (lately) for Bob Vila.  I'm OK with that.

  3. You'll notice that these are "at home" items. When I'm at work, I have a full support team that can fix just about anything.  There are some perks to being the head chief.


So how do I press on, surrounded by such imperfection?  It could be my wonderful wife and adorable children who keep me grounded.  It could be that my list takes time to come to fruition, after all there are only 24 hours in a day.  It could be that I acknowledge as a person of faith that our world is imperfect and I am a part of it.  I suppose it's a lot of things.

How much brokenness do you tolerate?

*Photo by DavidDoctorRose