When I read this verse from Isaiah, the first thing I think is that I need to rebuild who I am in order to fully participate in the rebuilding of the broader community. Only when I participate with God in making me who He made me to be can I help make this world more like it could be.
In many ways, I am already a different person than I used to be. Emotional armor that I needed to get through phases in my life has been shed. Behaviors have been learned and unlearned. I see the world and the people in it differently than I used to. I am not finished, but I am being rebuilt.
Our country has a breach in its very foundation. To repair the breach of racism is deep, hard and necessary work. And while I do need to work on identifying and rooting out racism in myself, my habits and my thoughts, I wonder if it's a cop out to say I have to rebuild myself before I participate in the rebuilding of my community.
I think a better approach in my mind, my heart and my hands would be to remember that as I am being rebuilt, I can rebuild my world. If I wait until I am fully repaired, restored and rebuilt, I will never be able to be a repairer of the breach. It must be both/and, not either/or.
May I be curious about the world around me. May I learn and change. May I be rebuilt and may I work to rebuild the systems and communities I belong to. May I rebuild what I have broken and participate in the repairing the broken world I've inherited.
