Sometimes You Have to Bend

Because if you don't. . .you will break.  It might be a small crack in the form of words said aloud in the heat of the moment or it may be an emotional rampage that you go off on over a seemingly nothing event. It might be silence in a generally interactive relationship, or it might be your withdraw into yourself and away from all those who have potential to harm you.  You are very aware of what your heart and soul can bare. . . So sometimes you have to bend because if you don't you will break.  
There has been a lot of bending over here, because breaking isn't really an option I have time for.  It gets in the way of the loving that needs to be done in the gaps of my day.  It robs me of the joy that my kids and family usually bring.  Breaking binds me to a period of crazy that I just don't care for.

Sometimes bending might include loving someone despite the choices they are making--the ones you absolutely disprove of.  You love them anyways.  It might be loving parents or in laws who are sick.  Their sicknesses can cause them to be irrational or unpredictable.  Their messes might wreak havoc on your life and what can we do with that?  Love them anyway.  That spouse who is doing the best he can but who occasionally does something you don't get or aren't happy with. . .bend a little.  That homschooler who is already tired after ten minutes of work?  Don't force it.  You have ALL day.  Embrace it. Embrace her. Read together or snuggle and watch educational television.  Who cares?  You make the rules here. Bend a little.  Those kids whose needs are many and that passion is fierce, let them be who they are meant to be.  Let them wear their uniform if that's what they want to do.  Bend a little and then bend a little bit more.
Because breaking isn't an option that's going to gain anything for good.  But bending?  Bending is teaching those sets of eyes who are watching to give grace, to not expect everything to be a certain way, to love others who are different than themselves, to be healthy in a world that is already broken.

There's enough brokenness in our world.  Let's ensure we don't head down that path intentionally.
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. - Psalm 147:3