Maybe brokenness is necessary in order to appreciate beauty on this side of heaven.

My daughter is writing an essay titled “The Beauty of Brokenness”. She hopes to point out that being “broken” in spirit or in body can be beautiful.  She found an article about an autistic boy who, because of his inability to speak, can now write with astounding eloquence. He writes and expresses himself more beautifully, perhaps because he can’t speak well, than some people with silver tongues.

I can’t help thinking about how much less beauty there would be in the world if Christ had not been broken for us. Beauty proclaims love.  Beauty arbitrates for the broken. Beauty sacrifices one life for more life.

Nothing and no one can be more beautiful than perfection being broken for the broken.

The cross points toward beauty we can’t even fathom in our “broken” state, but the most astonishing thing about our brokenness is that we can still reflect beauty.  Because of our longing for beauty, we unwittingly become mirror-like, never fully absorbing, yet bouncing back the image of God.

So, even if brokenness was not God’s original intention for us, He knew we feeble-minded souls would need it in order to fully understand beauty.  Broken became necessary. Just like the contrast of night and day, only when glory is juxtaposed with darkness have we learned to say, “Awe, that is beautiful.”

Then His image is reflected from our own.

We can long for perfection; we were created to do so. But we must acknowledge that our brokenness, for now, helps us experience beauty.

Look into the mirror and see the face of God.

What about you, do you think we need to experience brokenness in order to appreciate beauty?