Things break. Toys do. Dishes do to. Cars are famous for it. Promises are broken. And who hasn’t had a broken heart? Phones break. Sunglasses break. Teeth can break. And bones break, too – just ask our son, Jeb.

Two weeks ago he broke both bones in his arm near the wrist while playing a football game – his first game of the season. It was obviously broken by looking at it. The x-rays confirmed it. And the ER doctor tried to fix it.  He did a good job but it wasn’t aligned quiet right so a day later he was in the operating room having it lined up just perfectly and a pin put in to hold it in place.  A cast was put on and we wait for it to heal.  Four more weeks in the cast they say. Then a few weeks for rehab to regain the range of motion and strength he will lose while in the cast.

But for now we…wait.

We humans break easily. And I’m not talking simply about bones. Everyone — everyone — is broken. There is not a human on this earth who has not hurt, who is not damaged, or is not in pain. We are not all broken in the same way, of course, but we are all broken. We hold up perfect pictures of what our life is supposed to be like but the real pictures are anything but. Our lives are a mixture of sin and grace. Of brokenness and redemption. And in every hurt, in every habit and in every hang-up, God is healing. We are all broken but we are also all healing.

But for now we…wait…and God heals.

Waiting is the hardest part of the healing process. Whether it’s a bone, a heart, or our spirit. With any hurt, habit or hang-up. With any rejection, loss, or crisis. Healing doesn’t usually take place immediately. It’s a process. A journey. A passage. And we wait. We wait for the perfect healing.

So Jeb is now seeing the physician more than he is used to. We spent time with the ER doctor. The orthopedic doctor did surgery. Just this week we had an appointment with the same doctor. More x-rays were taken. The cast was changed out. We have to go back to the doctor in two weeks where the same thing will be done again. When a bone is healing, we must stay close to the physician. Why would it be any different with our heart or spirit? With our hurt and grief? Our brokenness and shame? Stay close to the Great Physician.

We know in time Jeb’s arm will be completely healed.

But for now…we wait…and keep our doctor’s appointments.

We know in time God heals all our brokenness.

But for now…we wait…and we grow a little closer to the Great Physician.