Being Shattered

A few years ago I heard a song, brilliantly played by a local violinist, called “Shatter Me.” (You can watch the video by the original artist Lindsey Stirling  here.) The raw emotion of the song captured me, haunted me.

I think what captured me was the idea of being “shattered.” At first glance, that doesn’t seem like something one would want, but then again, here is someone asking for it. And I find the idea of being shattered appealing. The lyrics say this:

Somebody shine a light
I’m frozen by the fear in me
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me
So cut me from the line
Dizzy, spinning endlessly
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!

Are there times in your life when you just want to be shattered? You long for someone to come in and shake you up? To shake you out of your fear? To make you feel alive? Perhaps that appeals to me because I feel that in order for someone to shatter you in that way, it requires someone to care. Someone has to know you—and isn’t that what we all want—to be known, deep down, really known.

I don’t believe I have anyone in my life—even in my closest relationships—that knows the real me. I don’t even know the real me. But God does. And somehow, he has looked deep into the darkest rooms of my heart, shined his light into the nooks of my soul, and comes out saying he loves me, even after all he’s seen.

I want God to shatter me. To break me free from the fears that keep my heart frozen. To crack through the façade I hang on my life in hopes that others will accept me. To free me from the sin I don’t want to do, but somehow keep doing. I want Jesus—who was shattered for me—to shatter my complacency, shine his light in my soul, and make me feel alive.   

Being Human connection: May God shatter you, too.