Blessings in Brokenness

“All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

iPhone screens. Windows. Windshields. Bones. Baseball bats. Helmets. Even Humpty Dumpty.

When something is cracked, we often think of it as ruined, useless, irredeemably broken.

But when a bird’s egg cracks while in the confines of its nest, it is a sign of new life, a fresh beginning. Only moments before the first crack, the egg is pure, smooth, unbroken. Then the crack happens, disrupting the calm surface of the egg. But what emerges next is something new and beautiful. 

Our business had its best year ever in 2019. Speaking, in person, on live stages was the biggest driver of revenue.  Who would have predicted that such a business model could vanish so quickly? But of course, it did, thanks to the arrival of a tiny, unwelcome virus.

Almost overnight, as speaking engagements went up in smoke, our business model cracked. Things didn’t look great. But we clung more fervently to our faith and have been bolstered by the support of past clients the merry band of Adultitis Fighters who have assembled behind us over the past twenty years.

Now, after a pivot into the virtual world, the development of a weekly live show, and the successful launch of a new membership community, I am more hopeful for the future than I’ve ever been. It’s overflowing with possibility and promises more time with my family and even more opportunities to collaborate with Kim, my wife, business partner, and best friend.

This future was unimaginable a year ago but made possible thanks to an unwelcome disruption.

Sometimes our life gets cracked.

Plans go south. Failures mount. Tragedy strikes.

We lose the game, our health, or someone we love.

We feel irredeemably broken.

But that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. In fact, it might just be the start of a new and better one.

This painting is a reminder of that first Easter morning, when something that undoubtedly felt like the end of the line miraculously turned into a glorious new beginning.

Maybe something in your life has cracked recently.

Is it broken, or the start of a new opportunity?