These past 4 weeks have found me in a state that no one ever wishes to be in: completely broken. Life is supposed to be filled with happiness and fun all while living in bold confidence of the path ahead of one's self, not with realizations that we are insignificant and that we live in total dependence upon God. I think not. I would argue that brokenness is needed, not just every now and then when we have done something wrong or feel guilty or convicted of something, but always. We need to be living with that realization in mind.

But like I was saying, we don't naturally like to be found in such a state, especially by those who know us well because we have an "image" to uphold. I am so guilty of this. So many times I have sought to keep my reputation intact by not being completely honest with those that are close to me and that has been a hindrance to my faith during my years in high school and carried over a bit into my college years. Over the course of my first few years of college, I began to open up to key people in my life, whose friendship I still cherish to this day. However, it was not until this past summer and up until now that I really began to get a grasp of this area of my faith in Christ. Still, I'm not perfect (I will never proclaim to be) and I am continuing to strive to grow in this area of openness. I have much to learn!

What I can say though is the freeing nature that exists in being transparent with your life is something to seek. As a body of believers, the church needs to come around its brothers and sisters in love to speak truth in to their lives yet filled with grace. All of us struggle with something, so we all need to be seeking out community in which support for it members is a integral part of life, not that people may continue in their sin, but that they may seek repentance and freedom from it. For what do we have to hide? We are all human and we all fail. Praise God for who He is; perfect, righteous, and holy!

For more thought, here's a blog post that speaks of brokenness in relation to leaders and provoked my thought on this subject tonight.

"Godly character is grown in dependency crises. You are forced to deal with God and with yourself. Great leaders don't just visit these places of dependence; they try to live there."

-Darrin Patrick

If one were to stand back and just observe someone (people watching, not stalking), it would become quite noticeable how multifaceted human beings really are. For each person, there are unique combinations of personality traits, characteristics, preferences, and dislikes that go into defining who someone is. Sure people are similar, but no one is exactly identical in how they process interactions and thoughts, which goes towards each person's uniqueness. Likewise, each person responds in their own way to different stimuli, whether that be something as simple as a touch or something as complex as a deep discussion over deep-seated feelings in combination with a dimly lit, romantic atmosphere. Looking at any relationship (friends, family, marital), knowing what gets through to the other person to show that you care about the relationship is key and vital to the health of the relationship.

Therefore, if I were to ask "What is it that your friends, family, or spouse enjoy? What can you do to uplift them?", would you know how to respond? How well do we really know those who we are close to? More often than not, we think about what we can do to make life better for ourselves rather than what we could be doing to make life better for someone else. I myself am not exempt from this. I believe that as a community of believers, Christ followers need to be exemplifying this in their lives towards people they know and those they do not know. In terms of personal relationships, one idea I have heard about is taking notes on what friends enjoy. Then through those notes one will know how to uplift their friend no matter what the circumstances may be. If is someone you don't know well, then small gestures of kindness can go a long way. I am not saying these things to only better your relationship with specific people, but to encourage you to live like Christ with your focus being placed on those around you rather than on yourself and your needs or wants. Seek to benefit other before yourself.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. - Matthew 7:12

I highly encourage any man to watch the video below. Mark Driscoll strongly articulates what it means to be a man of God in marriage. However, this video is also directed to men who have aspirations of joining a woman in marriage someday and pursuing God's call together in union. So go right ahead and hit 'play'.