B is for Bent not Broken

Everyone in life is guaranteed some form of hardship, storm or distress/duress that is necessary to forge us into the people God would have us to be. Though not pleasurable experiences, our problems are necessary for our promotion from one stage in life to another. The way we deal with these experiences really determines how we will come out of them. Some people seem to make it through, scraped up a bit but they come out in one piece. Others, instead, succumb to situations and trials never to come out and are overcome and swallowed up by their circumstances. So what is the difference between making it through a bad situation and getting stuck in a particular circumstance? The answer is simple.

Bent not broken.

We all at some point have the best laid plans. However, the plans for our life and God’s plans are not necessarily one and the same. Our expectations don’t always transform into our experiences. Delays and disappointments are inevitable. The people who make it through hardships aren’t broken by life’s surprises. Instead, they learn to bend.

Twigs snap. A quick and sudden stress causes them to break in two. People can also snap. It is when experiences become so extreme, circumstances are crazy and expectations unmet that some people “loose it” and do things they normally would not do if they were in their “right mind.”

The propensity to bend means that you can weather the storm. You can change course with whatever life throws your way. It may be uncomfortable, hard and even painful but bending means you won’t instead be broken by whatever circumstances come against you. Your attitude will decide your outcome when you bend. Being inflexible in your relationships with other people and even your own preconceived ideas only limits you and sets you up to “snap.” We should always be changing and bending to some extent. Learning, maturing, and submitting to God requires flexibility on our part.

Hardening your heart against God’s Word and an unwillingness to listen to others can leave you frail, rigid and easily broken. An unwillingness to bend will leave you frustrated and at odds with an ever-changing  world. Flexibility doesn’t dictate that you compromise to conform to the world. Flexibility allows you to move with God in this world.

If you want some peace of mind, be willing to change it when Divinely directed. If you wish to prosper, set goals but be willing to bend when God dictates you change your plans. You can’t truly prosper out of the will of God. What worked yesterday won’t necessarily work today. Someone else’s plan isn’t necessarily the plan for you. Listen when God speaks and then act accordingly.

If you are unwilling to change your plans when God directs something to the contrary, not only will you live a very frustrated and miserable existence, you will only set yourself up for headache, heartache and continual disappointment. You can strive against the world and all of its storms or you can abide in God staying flexible with the prodding of the Holy Spirit.

Snap in the storm or move with God? Bend or Break? The choice is yours to make!