From a BlackBerry

About a month ago, my phone got rained on during my walk home from class. Obviously, after its rain exposure, my phone only worked half way. The scroll pad ceased to work in the main menu, which hindered the way I could use my phone. However, because it is so inconvenient to make time to go to the Verizon store and get a phone fixed or traded, I decided to just live with it for awhile. I found ways to get around the issues--I made compromises that allowed me to keep using my phone, even in the midst of its brokenness. I took something that was supposed to be fully functioning...something that had fully functioned in the past...and made adjustments to the way I used it in order to accomodate its brokenness. This past week, after SO much frustration, I finally got my phone replaced. And I found that I'm still in the habit of using my shortcuts from my broken phone, even though this phone works perfectly.

So I got to thinking. This can apply to so much in life. Many a time, we experience seasons where everything seems to fit together perfectly...all is right. But then something changes and instead of cutting it out of our lives, we adjust to the brokenness. We make compromises and keep living with shattered circumstances because there is no immediate need for something new. Over time, though, this wears on us so much. Frustration and angst build up as time passes and we keep having to adjust to broken situations. And then, when the opportunity to have new, whole life arises, we don't even know how to handle it because we were so used to the shortcuts we made to avoid stepping on broken glass. Throughout the past few years, I have found myself at The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree over and over again. A man's fig tree was not fruitful; it was broken. He waited, dancing around broken bits of glass for several years. After turning to his gardener, he was given an ultimatum. He was to give it one more chance, and if it was still barren, he needed to cut it down instead of living with an unfruitful tree. Kinda like me and my BlackBerry--there came a point where the man needed to cease his attempts to function with something that could no longer fulfill its purpose.

Today, I ask myself: what broken ways have I settled into and gotten too comfortable with? Is it time to cut a dysfunctional//barren situation out of my life and live free?

What about you?