Tag: John Roedel

Scrolling through Facebook yesterday morning, I came across a powerful dialogue created by John Roedel. The post was shared by a chaplain colleague. The dialogue is between Gd and a person in which the person asks Gd to put back the broken pieces of the person’s life. Gd’s response is to not repair, to not fix, but let the pieces fall away so as to allow the person to shed those things which are hindrances in the person’s life.

Here is the dialogue in full:

Me: Hey God.
God: Hello…..
Me: I’m falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I would rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you aren’t a puzzle.
Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?
God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.
Me: You don’t understand! I’m breaking down!
God: No – you don’t understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling are just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You aren’t falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don’t need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don’t fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?
God: Only the very best pieces of you.
Me: I’m scared of changing.
God: I keep telling you – YOU AREN’T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don’t change! … Become! Become! Become who I made you to be. I’m going to keep telling you this until you remember it.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yep. Let it be.
Me: So … I’m not broken?
God: Of course Not! – but you are breaking like the dawn. It’s a new day. Become!!!
~John Roedel~

I find the imagery of the broken pieces powerful. We are not denying those pieces are a part of who we were. Rather, we are acknowledging them, maybe even storing them somewhere, but not trying to fit them back into the person we are becoming.

In a way, it is metaphor for this blog. In the journey of beginning anew, moving forward, I cannot forget what was but cannot allow the past to merely be the barometer of who I am. I am the person who I have become because of the past yet as I continue to be, I am also not the same person as yesterday. Each day, we have a chance to renew. We do that by allowing ourselves to evolve and to grow. By allowing the pieces to fall as they do, we can also find hope for the future, no matter what the past has wrought.

I am also imagining that we gather the pieces that have fallen and keep them somewhere safe, pulling them out for reflection as we continue on our journeys. How often do we find ourselves reflecting on events of years past, wondering why all of a sudden the memory returns? The pieces that have fallen off can be teachers for us, but can never be fitted back onto who we are becoming.