Thursday, December 3, 2020

REBUILD

 

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.

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

STRENGTHEN

 


Sometimes, the best way to #strengthen a bone or a body or a world-weary heart is to rest. 

I don't enjoy the necessity of slowing down. I don't enjoy the difficulty of even a short trip by car: hobble down the stairs, remove the boot, drive, park, put on the boot, hobble into my destination, repeat. But I am using my time more judiciously. I am deciding whether I truly need to leave the house. I am asking for help (daughters make great chauffeurs). I am slowing down so that my leg will strengthen.

May I have the grace to not just accept this time of healing, but relish it. Where do you need to rest to find strength?