Sometimes the greatest moments happen when the iPod is on shuffle and a song speaks to you. While I was running recently, a song by the band Lifehouse came on called “Whatever It Takes.” For some reason there’s a line in that song that captures my attention every time. It simply says:

Don’t hide the broken parts that I need to see…

For the next few miles, I kept marinating that lyric. I know what it meant in the context of the song, but what did it really mean to me? Why does it jump out at me each time I hear the song? I think it’s because I’ve got broken parts. I could be wrong, but I would guess that we all do. I wondered what I do with my broken parts and who knows about them. THAT is where I got stuck….who knows about them?

Uh oh…

I realized that there are two..count them, TWO people in my life that know all of my broken parts. I mean ALL of my broken parts. One is my wife, the other is my best friend. Yikes. I don’t know what the standard for amount-of-people-that-know-your-broken-parts is, but I am guessing that two isn’t anywhere close. I have a feeling that number should at least be double. I have a feeling that there should be a community of people, brothers, friends around me that know those broken parts and are okay with them. People that know those ugly things and love me anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I know folks that love me….they just don’t know the broken parts.

Anyone else deal with this? I’m pretty sure my wife shouldn’t have to deal with the broken parts alone. She’s amazing, but that just isn’t fair. There’s a lot of weight there for her to carry. She deserves better than that. My best friend? I hardly see him. We catch up every now and then and our relationship rocks that way. So basically, I have them, my wife knows them and a friend occasionally shares in them.

Not good. Not good at all.

It’s not how we were meant or designed to live. Bob Goff had a great quote in his amazing book “Love Does“:

He knows our sadness and the brokenness we want to hide from Him, and He sends people to look for us.

Did you catch that? “He sends people to look for us.” In other words, he sends people into our lives, throughout our journey, that whisper the words to that Lifesong song– “don’t hide the broken parts that I NEED to see.” As I look back of the road of this life, there have been people that were probably sent to look for me. They were there for the broken parts. I just never shared them. They did their part, I didn’t do mine.

I don’t believe that this is a golden ticket to just dump all of our “issues” on someone else. I think what I mean here is that time, friendship and trust develop the space for us to unpack these things. Life groups are a perfect opportunity for that. It won’t happen the first night (although it could), but over time, there will be a place and a community built for these kinds of discussions. I know I need to be better at that. I also know I need to be more of aware of the people that God sends to look for me.

Question: Do you share your “broken parts” and with how many people do you share them?