Broken Can be Hard to Watch

As they approach their 8th birthdays all three of my children still enjoy attachments to 'lovies' they have had since infancy. K has her inseparable pair, Lambie & Blankie. P sleeps cuddled up with Night Night, a blanket that lost its color since it was lovingly knit by his great-grandmother, Nana. R sleeps with an Eric Carle character we call Sunny.

(This photo was taken years ago...look at those pudgy baby feet...but this is how he still sleeps, rubbing Sunny between his feet.)

Needless to say, after serving R well all these years, Sunny is starting to show his age--despite replacing him (sort of) five years ago. This morning R brought him to me with a big rip and asked me to please help put him back together. Because my husband sews all day long at work, I set Sunny aside for Daddy to operate on tonight.

After dinner I was downstairs in the kitchen when a slightly alarmed looking R came in and hugged me. 

"What's wrong, Buddy?"

"Well," he replied earnestly, "Daddy is upstairs working on Sunny and sometimes when things I really love are broken and getting better it makes me sad to watch."

Such sweetness from my typically all-business little man. I relished the precious glimpse of his not-often-revealed soft side.

It wasn't until later tonight that the deeper meaning of his words struck me. R trusted his father. He wanted Sunny repaired and knew he was in good, loving hands...yet something about the vulnerability of his wounded friend made watching the repair hurt his heart. Can't you relate? I certainly can. 

When people we love are walking through hard times, we often want to wrap them up and rescue them from the pain, even though the pain is often part of what God is using to restore them. I feel quite certain my boy wasn't thinking this deeply, but appreciate the application nonetheless.

Sometimes when things (people) I really love are broken and getting better, it makes me sad to watch too.