Humpty Dumpty

(Originally posted on September 3, 2018)

I saw a poster in the library at my school about this book. I checked it out and read it to my daughter. And then I read it again by myself.

I found myself surprised by what happened in the book because this was quite different from the story I grew up with.  If you think about it, the childhood story that I grew up with was kind of dismal. Poor Humpty. Shattered in a million pieces. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.

Yet in THIS story Humpty is afraid. He's put back together with Band-Aids but you can still see his cracks. And as much as he loves to climb the ladder and be up on the wall with the birds when he fell that changed everything and he knew fear and danger and pain.

His dream and passion was shattered along with him. He healed from his wounds physically. But the fear that he now carries with him and the scars, a continuous reminder of what happened, keep him from trying again.

As time goes by, and fear begins to subside a little bit, the pain isn't so fresh, he takes a chance and climbs the ladder to the top of wall. I'm not going to tell you what happens next you'll have to read the book. It's worth it!

So what's the point!

I fell off my wall. I shattered into a million pieces. And although I was put back together with love and support I learned that there is fear and danger and pain and it made me afraid.

When you have faced in your life the unthinkable, when something has happened so awful that it stops you cold in your tracks and makes you not want to go on. When fear and pain steal your happiness and confine you to a prison you think you can never escape...

God promises hope. God promises restoration and a future.

But what if the thing that knocked you off the wall also brought confusion about that very God? What if when you fell your trust and faith in God fell with you? How do you climb that ladder back up on that wall trusting the same God that allowed you to fall the first time?

Unfortunately I do not have an answer for that. But just like Humpty Dumpty, I believe that eventually the fear quiets, the pain subsides, it doesn't feel quite so dangerous and what you experienced on top of the wall calls to you to come back. And when you do relationship is restored beyond doubt and fear and confusion

I'm not there yet but it seems as if the poster on the wall in the library in my school pointed me toward a book that gave me a glimpse of what is to come. As long as I keep on looking forward and challenging myself to climb that ladder once again.