Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again

Why did Humpty, with his state of fragility, get up on the wall in the first place?

Maybe it was curiosity – he wanted to know what things were like on the other side of the wall?

Maybe all his mates were up on the wall, and he wanted to be part of the group?

Maybe Humpty was bored and looking for a thrill?

Maybe Humpty wanted to die?

Sadly, this little centuries old children’s rhyme describes many lives in the communities around us.

A curiosity with drugs, wondering what it’s like to feel high or euphoric or invincible, leads to destruction.

Wanting to fit in with the crowd, the old peer pressure, can lead to us making decisions and exhibiting behaviours that produce dire consequences.

Or people living without meaning or purpose engage in risky behaviour because they just want some excitement.

Then there are many who just give up on life, either through depression or sadness or feeling like the world would be better off without them.

Like the king’s horses and men, often our attempts to help them put their life back together again, when done in our own strength, is fruitless, useless. The eggshell of their lives is so badly broken apart that it seems impossible.

But there is one who can repair and restore the most damaged, broken person.

The one who came to give us life, in all its fullness, to give us hope, to give our lives purpose and meaning.

The Healer.

The Restorer.

Jesus.

And we are the King’s men, and women (rather than horses!). We are called to patrol the walls, to talk people down, and to apply this balm of Divine Love to the damaged and the broken.

Don’t give up on anyone. There is no one that Jesus cannot put back together again.

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington