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.

Yesterday our visiting speaker was Jenny Gehman, wife of Dan who has roots in our congregation at Chestnut Hill.  She and Dan passed through a strenuous year, having lost their long-held positions in the Millersville house, a home to several international students.  That was quite a blow for Dan and Jenny.

Jenny quoted the Humpty Dumpty ditty as a lead-in to her message that focused on what often happens – we fall and are badly broken and no one can fix us.  Her picture of a cracked egg at the bottom of the wall was impressive.  Poor, dear Humpty!

This set my mind to thinking.  When we feel secure, perhaps, then we are in danger of falling – of cracking into pieces, like our distressed Humpty!  We all know this story in our own lives.  We keep falling.

I felt my spirit asking, is there not another verse to this ditty?  Does it all stop there, a cracked egg at the foot of the wall with no healer?  Ouch!

After church I tried to find out who wrote it, why and when?  I got only enough of an answer to know that no one knows.  Probably 18^th Century England, but that is about it. I found, to my surprise, there is no second verse!

So, we are free to think about its truth!  Who has not fallen from a “safe” place of some sort or another, and who has not cried out for help, but found none?

So, as I sat there with my wife, Anna Ruth and granddaughter, Elizabeth, I found my spirit crying out – there is surely another verse, a verse written by a believer.  How about something like –

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
He cried out of his brokenness, Lord, restore me to fullness.
Now, he is back on the wall, forgiven and thankful.

Humpty reminds me of truth eternal, truth I know that keeps me from falling – and gets me back on the wall when it happens, again.

Amen