hurt, broken, jaded, s e a s o n e d.

if you've lived any life at all, you've been hurt.
if you've loved anyone at all, you've been broken.
if you've experienced both, you've most likely been jaded.

yikes, not what i signed up for.

but here's the thing...
we're gonna go through it at some point, there WILL be something.
you'll lose something, someone, a marriage, a job, your health, your future, a dream.
it's inevitable.. whether you feel it now or not. it will come.
but it is up to us, it's our choice how we come out on the other side.

i've seen the jaded.
i've hung out with them, (for always a minute too long..)
i don't like the taste it leaves in my mouth.
i stop asking how they are doing.
they drain the life from everyone they meet.
their pity party only lasts for a short while... then everyone just wants to go home.
no amount of words or encouragement fill them with hope. or joy.
and i give up on them.
i know you know a jaded one, or two.

then there are the others.
they've looked up to rock bottom, they've been to the dark side, they GET IT. (just like the jaded)
but they CHOOSE to shed light.
they share, not to gain pity, but to show redemption.
to say, 'the road is hard, but the journey can be beautiful'.
their past, their dirt, doesn't make you feel dirty but proves that clean, whole, better, feels so good when you've known what the other side is like.
a pinch of this, a bit of that, all thrown in to make them who they have become.
they are seasoned.

m a t t h e w 5:13-16 (msg)

¹³ “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

^14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

this verse, and this translation has always kicked me in the gut.
i love it, its straight forward tells us a clear, and practical instruction for what we are called to do.
but it also does just that... calls us to be open , shed light where there is darkness (in the shadows of our community, talk about what no one wants to talk about, call people out on their crap, to share maybe a little more than you're comfortable with, so someone knows they are not alone) 
and then it says if we don't do these things we aren't useful, and become trash! (no thanks)
the "salt-seasoning" part never quite made sense to me.. until recently.
til i met a few of those "seasoned" type, like i described above.  
and then i got it. 
and i wanted it.
i don't want my heart to bleed sour, hurt, or jaded...
i want to take all my hurts, all my pieces, my callused parts everything in my life thats falling apart, thats shattered on the ground and use those things to become seasoning to this earth.  
to shine the biggest flood light i can find.
to share that this is how we PRACTICALLY show Jesus to everyone around us.

that is redemption.
that is showing the enemy that what it took, what it did, wont define what i am, but will show how good He is.

there it is.

plain and simple.