Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken…
“Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Broken pinky finger off a Ganesha statue.
Broken pinky on Ganesha statue…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Broken boulders at Joshua Tree Park, CA
Huge broken boulders found at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California
The word “Broken” covers a lot of ground; some good, like breaking ground for a new building, breaking champagne on a new ship, or breaking a wrapped glass at a wedding ceremony, and some not so good; like broken hearts, broken promises, broken bones, or that 7 year bad luck that comes from breaking a mirror. Yet, we must go through our broken moments with fortitude and the belief that our ups and downs will strengthen us and make us whole. Those with a pessimistic outlook might see only the brokenness that results from unpleasant events, and those with an optimistic bent might understand that for every thing we break, there is an opportunity for renewal, for rebirth, for a kindling of new love. We need hope for both.
“Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul, if either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas…” Kahlil Gibran
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Deer leaning over broken planters and tree branch
Deer in backyard, nosing around broken tree branch and planters for food in the winter.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Broken pieces of bread on art work at Musee des beaux-arts in Caen
Art work at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen, France
The items I have picked for this exercise represent visual things that are broken… and that is the easy part. What we don’t often show or find hard to share are those moments of brokenness that are sad; that seem irreparable. So as I share my pictures with you for this assignment on our Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken, I keep a few close to my heart, the unseen, the unspoken, the untouched, the images of brokenness that are not shown here… What are your representations? What do/did you share?
“Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.” Albert Camus
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Broken old swing/recliner set
A broken swing/recliner set sitting idly…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken… Broken remains of WWII bunker & artillery in France
Broken remains of WWII bunker & artillery in Arromanches-les-Bains area, France.
Flexibility is a gift and many of us don’t have it… We come into our adult years with fixed ideas of how things should/shouldn’t be. We carry our expectations into our relationships, our workplaces, and our every day transactions with others, and we expect the outcomes to favor us. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t… and that is a good thing. Inflexibility creates rigidity and demagoguery… Neither are good for our health or soul. A little brokenness reminds us of our humanity and gives us, hopefully, compassion towards others… and that too is a good thing. What are your thoughts? What broken things did you showcase? Did you have a difficult time with this exercise? Do share? Thank you! 🙂
This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge – Broken
Positive Motivation Tip: When you find your path or heart broken, pick up the pieces and offer them skyward… Grace waits to collect and mend them.
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PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Enjoyed.
Merci Katherine!
A beautiful post . It’s true that a lot of the brokeness can’t be visualize and can only be felt by the heart. This are the ones that takes time to heal. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you dear on… this was an interesting prompt… It turned quite differently than I expected.
A great selection of photos depicting the word BROKEN!
Most of the time I come to your blog to be uplifted by your amazing photos and words…today’s post on “Broken” showed a different slant on life…there is so much brokeness around us…some that we can mend and some that must remain as it is. For me, this is difficult, because I am made to “fix” things (and people). But I am also realistic and know that working at making myself “whole” and unbroken is the most important job…from that vantage point I can then try to help others.
As always, Eliz, you make me look inside. 🙂 Thank you!
I like that you have mentioned the broken remains of WWII bunker & artillery in France – a reminder, to avoid wars …
“…for every thing we break, there is an opportunity for renewal, for rebirth, for a kindling of new love.” !!! Too often we are embarrassed to show brokenness, non-perfection and flaws.
An entirely different story about making place for something new: We had an old plastic mixing bowl which my grandmother had bought in the sixties and was very proud of. Middle of the nineties that bowl was still around, with a chip and a crack, but still doing its job. Just like my mother and grandmother, I’m against throwing away something still useful, but this bowl was soooo ugly; what used to be baby blue plastic was grey and worse with berry stains and scratches. I wanted a new bowl, but my mother said no. I think I went “whoopy” when someone dropped it accidentally…
“A little brokenness reminds us of our humanity and gives us, hopefully, compassion towards others.” It is my very imperfections, my faults, my brokeness that humbles me, that makes me feel that I need others, that guides my heart to feel empathy, to be able to relate to others pain, to show kindness and generosity. It is the very thing that makes me aware that there is God who takes hold of my life and apart from him, I’m nothing. Thanks for a post that inspires as all.
You must have an amazing library of photos! I DID have difficulty with this exercise–while I had many photos of objects/buildings in disrepair, I kept thinking of the word ‘broken’ as in broken spirit.
Great choices! I have been looking around for the right subject myself. . .
Broken old swing is dangerous.I hope children will not use it.
Broken may show the change of era.
Thanks for sharing that. I like broken stuff. Always thought i could fix everything. lol
I got a pingback from you. You can check it out if you want, under my Broken photo challenge.
What a nice reminder to view the “broken” things in our lives as opportunities for something different, maybe something better.
Great pictures. I especially enjoyed the broken fingers.
I passed on this photo prompt . . . it didn’t appeal to me the way most of them have. Instead I’ll share a favorite “broken” quote:
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ~ Anton Chekhov
I love ‘broken’ things! I like chipped paint and rusty metal. I think they all have character!
The Ganesha photo is beautifully broken.
Actually they all are beautiful in their brokenness.