The Broken Traveler

It is easy to get overwhelmed and downtrodden in this life.  It is hard.  It is often unrelenting and unmerciful.  Many fight just to live day to day and paycheck to paycheck hoping and praying for a miracle, a light at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel of struggle and despair.  Some suffer physically, some emotionally, some financially, some even religiously.  Some ache in unbeknownst silence, while others feel humiliated as their failings and trials are displayed in jumbo-tron fashion before their world.  The attrition of hardship, personal insecurity and harsh often self-inflicted judgement ultimately leads to an emotional collapse—a breakdown of spirit and hope.  Overwhelmed at times of our lives we find ourselves pleading and screaming for sanctuary that we may escape the fury of the storms of our lives.

Occasionally, like the hungry Israelites who wandered aimlessly in the wilderness were blessed to receive miraculous manna from heaven, we too at times receive our own necessitated manna from heaven to sooth our tried and tired souls. This weeks manna came from my sweet and humble bishop—Bishop Doug Wood.  Today in sacrament meeting he shared the story of the good Samaritan, how two people who had planned their day, but found themselves completely off script as one was beaten, robbed and left for dead and the other who came upon the first, who then offered all he had to help the afflicted stranger.  Neither anticipated the day’s events, but nevertheless it crossed their paths.  All they could do was to decide how to react to the storm that confronted them.  One rose to the occasion and with available strength gave help to another.  The other was left devastated,  distraught without strength or finances, all he could do was lay helplessly in bed and wait to be healed.

The bishop then went on to say that life is messy.  It doesn’t always follow the plan we lay out for it, but, that is the way life is supposed to be.  We are not expected to be perfect.  We are not expected to have perfect lives.  We are all broken.  We are all in need of repairing.  This life is not about the outcome, it is about the journey and struggle through the messiness of life that makes the outcome of life worth it.  Then my favorite part, “It is ok to not be ok!”  Wait, let that sink in: “It is ok to not be ok!”.  It is ok to be broken.  It is ok to not be perfect, to not have everything figured out or not have unwavering faith, conviction or understanding.  It’s ok to be tired. It’s ok to want answers.  It’s ok to think differently.  It’s ok to fail.  It is ok to not be ok!  This is part of life.  This is how we grow.  At various times of our lives each of us are broken and need to be repaired.  All we can do in life is try to do the right thing with our next decision.  Sometimes we are the Samaritan, sometimes we are the broken traveler.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).