Reflections on Humpty Dumpty
A picture of an Egg- like Humpty on the ground next to a high wall with his shell cracked in a number of places is a common image in children’s books. All the royal men were not able to do anything to help restore Humpty back to his state of well being. Apparently the original Humpty Dumpty was the name given to a cannon that protected the town of Colchester yet had its wall blown from underneath it in 1648. The royalists of the time were not able to place the battered cannon back in its high spot on the wall so they surrendered to the roundheads and lost the town.
How many of us feel like Humpty in the nursery rhyme at times. When he fell it caused a deep brokenness. Perhaps you have come to a place where you are not the person you used to be. You can readily identify with the broken and wounded character lying on the ground. You remember what you used to be able to do and can do no longer. The cannon of Colchester held a key and prominent role in the village but was now in essence just a heap of scrap metal. Maybe you feel like a piece of useless scrap, a “ has been ”. You try to do what you were known before as being able to achieve but it just doesn’t happen.
Just like Humpty, many people have come around and tried to “ get you back up on top of the wall.” You have carted your broken shell from friend to specialist and even to that risky quack that everyone warned you about. Yet it only helped for a moment. Vey soon the effects of the damaged shell kicked back in. For years you tried but now it is easier to lie back in your fractured world and enjoy the changing seasons. To sing “ Autumn leaves” as you reminisce what was before and what might have been.
A woman who had tried everything decided to not give up . She had heard that Jesus did what no other person could do. She thought if only I could touch the edge of his clothes that would be enough. I would be whole again. She confronted her doubts and her despair and a large crowd mobbing Jesus and managed to briefly touch his cloak. She was immediately put back together again. Her brokenness was gone. She knew something miraculous had happened. Jesus said that because she believed in his capacity to restore broken people she could now go on with her life free from the effects of the damage that had controlled her world.
Jesus specialises in putting broken lives back together. He looks at a Humpty on the ground and has deep compassion and the power to mend. He only waits for us to believe in Him, to reach out and tell him that we trust him and believe he is a restorer of the broken. Don’t lay in your shattered microcosm any longer; believe in the power of the King to restore your life. Say yes to the restorer of all that is broken. He will put you back together again.
Rod Holmes