Looking Up

The word "up" generally means to increase in some manner. To "ante up" means to pay ones share and thus increase. To "up the ante" means to raise the stakes. To "look up the word in the dictionary" means that your search for knowledge now expands to a dictionary. To "speak up" means to increase your volume and to "shut up" means that there needs to be more shutting of the mouth. To say your friend had a "come up" means he was profitable in some way. Even Disney Pixars movie "UP" is about fulfillment of ones loving promise despite and highlighted by great loss. 

What does this mean in terms of a "break up"? What is there to be increased? Brokenness. There is a brokenness in our relationship such that a complete annihilation of the relationship is thought to be the last measure or antidote. Sometimes this is necessary. In medical contexts, sometimes we have to break a bone to have it heal correctly. Amputations may be necessary to prevent a spreading of rot or disease. We do not increase brokenness for brokenness sake, but for the good of the whole. We may mourn the loss of a foot while recognizing that it was necessary to lose lest we lose our entire life (it was caught in a bear trap, and I would have never been found if I didn't cut it off and find help. It is better to pluck our your eyes than to go to hell. Etc.). So, too, we may genuinely mourn the loss of a girlfriend or boyfriend and at the same time recognize the good it plays in the entirety and summation of our lives. 

When one does not understand the reasons for a breakup, the "up" is gone from the "break" and all one is left with is brokenness and being broken down. This may lead to despair, but Christ the physician knows what He is doing, even if we do not, and we trust in His hands, precise like a surgeon, with loving care of an artist who molds the clay to make His pots. When I am sick and in need of a doctor, I usually have a trust to such a level where I do not even question what they need to do to me. "I don't care what you do, just fix me!" is my attitude. So why don't I have an even greater trust and attitude in my Maker? Something I need to work on, perhaps.