Broken Open

by Natalie Handley

I wrote this song after a friend said to me, “We’ve been in this pandemic for almost a year now and we haven’t even taken a moment to grieve.” That statement is true for many of us. Life, as we knew it, shut down. We were thrust into a new way of living and spent much effort trying to catch up and make a new way work, without time to pause and let our souls catch up to our bodies and minds. Our world stopped, but we were still running. It wasn’t a time of sabbath; it was simply a time of brokenness. I’ve heard others describe this year as an extended season of Lent. As I recorded this song, I thought of the women and disciples whose lives were turned upside down as Jesus was arrested and went to the cross. Life, as they knew it, shut down. Their world stopped; and they were fleeing for safety, too. Little did they know that God was working a miracle through this time of brokenness. From all of life’s broken places, life rises up again and sings Alleluia. But first we must mourn, then new life is born.

Broken Open

Pause

For a while…

Grieve

For a while...

It seems the glass upon our table

Is cracked for a while

It seems the things that once were able

Are gone for while

Broken open

We are broken open

Even as we mourn

Something new is born

Broken open

Rest

For a while...

Mourn

For a while...

It seems the ice that once was stable

Is cracked for a while

And immortality is a fable

We believed for a while

Broken open

We are broken open

Even as we mourn

Something new is born

Broken open

© Natalie Handley, 2021