A few weeks ago, I dug into my purse searching for only God knows what. My purse is like the Bermuda triangle. You can enter but there’s no telling if you’re going to make it out. Anyway…I came across this tube of lipstick that I hadn’t worn in quite some time. I had completely forgotten what the poor thing even looked like so I popped the cap to refresh my memory. Oh my soul…when I opened it I got the shock of my life. It was broken! Granted, it wasn’t an expensive tube of lipstick to begin with, but still. Broken! Then something clicked. That fresh coat of popping pink lip color that was on my daughter’s lips the day before was not an extra heavy dose of my cherry chapstick…no buddy. It was my mauve tube of Milani lipstick. I was so infuriated and annoyed. I love my child but she makes her way into my purse to find any cosmetic, stick of gum, perfume, whatever (remind me to keep my makeup locked up when she’s 13 ). I grabbed the tube so hastily and went to throw it out. Then, I stopped. I stopped for a moment and asked myself why it mattered that the lipstick was now broken. It wasn’t any less functional because the top was smeared. It still worked, didn’t it?
In that moment, and I kid you not, I also realized that we all too often do the same thing with ourselves and with each other. We’ve been broken, battered, deserted, you name it, we’ve been through it. Instead of working through that marriage, that job, that anxiety, depression, whatever it is we want to “throw it away” or give up because it’s broken. But doesn’t it still work? If you just take a little bit of time and mold it just right like that broken tube of lipstick, won’t the end result be just as beautiful? Take it from someone who has dealt with moments of complete darkness, there is always a way. It may not look all pretty and packaged perfectly as it did when you began, but I promise you, broken doesn’t have to mean destroyed.