We are all broken by something (Bryan Stevenson)

God is… mercy 

within mercy within mercy.

(Thomas Merton)

  We are all broken by something.  We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent.  And we are all more than the worst thing we have ever done.

  There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy.  When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise.  You see things you can’t otherwise see; you hear things you can’t otherwise hear.  You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us.

--Bryan Stevenson

Image source: Karen Swenholt, The Return of the Prodigal (Aqua-Resin, 2007).  See the website for an in-depth discussion of Swenholt's art:  https://imagejournal.org/article/lost-and-found/

Quotation source