“All My Favorite People” by Over the Rhine
Reflection:
We’re all broken. That’s not an earth shattering revelation. But, for many of us, our brokenness is a source of shame and guilt. We understand that we’re not the only ones with wounds, scars, and sins, but we are often alone in our brokenness. We’re alone because we intentionally keep it from others. We keep quiet about our failures. We work harder and longer to compensate for our sense of incompleteness. We guard our bruised hearts behind our best dressed Sunday suits. We remain silent about our sins.
But all my favorite people are broken.
I don’t mean that in the obvious “we-are-all-broken” sense. My favorite people are those who are honest about their brokenness. With a paradoxical humble audacity, they wear it on their sleeve. Not as a badge of honor, but as an attempt to inhabit the world with earnestness. My favorite people share their wounds and shortcomings as an offering to others saying, “Here I am. If you accept me, I’ll accept you. I’ll be honest about my brokenness, so you can can be honest about yours.”
Our instinct is to protect our tender wounds. There’s wisdom and appropriateness to this impulse. But there’s also danger. Build the walls too high, build the fortress too strong and no one ever gets in. Inevitably, we will find is that our defenses that shield us from hurt unwittingly become the obstacle to being loved as well as the impediment to loving others. To love is to accept risk. There is no guarantee in being loved and in loving people that we will not have our hearts ripped open.
Which is why my favorite people tend to be broken. They’re usually the ones who love well.
Links:
Lyrics:
All my favorite people are broken
Believe me, my heart should know
Some prayers are better left unspoken
I just want to hold you and let the rest go
All my friends are part saint and part sinner
We lean on each other, try to rise above
We are not afraid to admit we are all still beginners
We are all late bloomers when it comes to love
All my favorite people are broken
Believe me, my heart should know
Awful believers, skeptical dreamers, step forward
You can stay right here, you don't have to go
Is each wound you've received just a burdensome gift
It gets so hard to lift yourself up off the ground
But the poet says we must praise a mutilated world
We're all working the graveyard shift
You might as well sing along
Cause all my favorite people are broken
Believe me, my heart should know
As for your tender heart, this world's going to rip it wide open,
It ain't gonna be pretty, but you're not alone
All my favorite people are broken
Believe me, my heart should know
Awful believers, skeptical dreamers, you're welcome
Yeah, you're safe right here, you don't have to go
Cause all my favorite people are broken
Believe me, I should know
Some prayers are better left unspoken
I just want to hold you and let the rest go
For Further Reflection:
Who are some of your favorite people?
How easy it is for you to accept the brokenness of others? Do you believe you can be accepted with your brokenness?
What keeps you from loving others?
Consider the protection of God towards the broken and vulnerable in Psalm 34.
Additional Music
“Broken Halos” - Chris Stapleton
“Love is Pain” - Finneas
“Castle On the Hill” - Ed Sheeran