“It’s all about me,” my good friend Terrie laughed. “It’s always more about me than I’d care to admit when it comes to relationships.” Paul said the same thing, when he declared, “I’m the chief sinner of all” (1 Tim. 1:15). Even Socrates acknowledges, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” This brings up two important questions: How do we acknowledge our brokenness without drowning in introspection and self-loathing? And how do we pursue spiritual growth and healing without making it a remedy for our brokenness? If we live with the assumption that God will help us get it all together, then we have seriously underestimated our condition and the nature of the gospel. The gospel message is that I am far worse than I imagined and simultaneously more loved and accepted by God than I ever dared hope or imagine. Our brokenness will not be resolved this side of heaven; however Jesus’ words on the cross “It is finished,” changes the facts—I am no longer a prisoner of my condition. I am a glorious wreck, forever loved and accepted, being shaped into a unique reflection of God, himself. I can now offer to others what I have undeservedly been given—an unimaginable love. Summarizing my friend, self-interest will always abound. Yet Terrie’s uncompromising depiction of herself, offered with winsome laughter, and an unguarded heart, sings and aches with gospel hope. Love looks inside so we can look out.