This is Karen. Today I want to talk about brokenness. I got to thinking about that word, and I realized that ownership of my wrongs led me to a brokenness that I can’t really describe to you. I attempted suicide in jail on January the 27th of 1987, and when I woke up from taking those pills, I almost instantly knew that I was blessed to have the opportunity and the chance of being broken that much. I pray that many incarcerated and even free people can relate to that. I responded to that brokenness with a rehabilitation of my character. Like I think we’re meant to do that in life, and this brings us to a measure of wholeness that some never achieve if we reach that level of brokenness. And then I got to thinking that brokenness and forgiveness and wholeness, they seem to be buried treasures today. We can all be broken, but how do we use it in our life journey? I think we all ask for forgiveness, but there’s a lot of people that don’t choose to give it. Forgiveness cost Christ everything, but it only costs us some pride and humility.
April, as I’ve talked about before, is Second Chance Month, and I think forgiveness could bring second chances to a lot of families, the courts, schools, friendships, workplaces and even prisons. And if you’re listening, we’re asking for your forgiveness. Wholeness, that last word I thought about, is, that’s a sharing of a higher good beyond our personal comfort or even our positions in life. Leaders, if you’re listening, I’d like to say that leadership must meet the moral challenges of today and mass incarceration and second chances are two of those challenges. Many of us in here understand abandonment and judgment, and I think the only justification for either of those is for leaders to stop and pick us up, everybody, no, but if we earned it, yes. It gets dark in here sometimes, but I know that governors across our great nation can bring light to a lot of lives with second chances. Giving us a second chance restores families and it also restores communities. This is Karen, and I’m really sharing something real.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
