I am fifty years old and not the same person I was ten years ago. I was, am and will be changed by experience, by my own conscious efforts or through active decisions. My heart, my attitude towards people, my acceptance of circumstances – all this changes awfully slowly, but change it does.
This change can take place through breaking or bending. Breaking is done to something or someone. It doesn`t take much time and in the end the broken thing or person is destroyed. To bend something or someone, on the other hand, is a time consuming process: Either the material needs to have suitable properties or the person needs to offer their cooperation and consent. In the end, the thing or person that is bent still retains its own essence or personality, and most of its power and ability.
I believe God is the driving force behind everything that happens in my life – chances, motivation and the ability to decide. He knows my strengths and weaknesses and also what needs to change in me to be a loving, patient and compassionate person. Because God loves me, he doesn`t break, he bends – using time, effort, patience and humility. He has more patience and readiness to adapt to my pace on life’s journey than I have myself, and is more than willing to start anew with me, again and again.
It may take much longer, but, given the choice, I`d rather be bent than broken ….