Good morning…
Powerful. Widespread. Catastrophic. Explosive words wake the morning news. Loss of power. Devastation closes in. The damage is really just beginning.
What do we do when we face the inevitable pain of powerlessness, intense darkness, lights out on the life we love? We open our Bible to experience the promises of Isaiah 58:10-12 expressed in the Message translation.
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
God’s Word gives clear guidance when the life we love is ripped apart.
Be generous to the hungry.
Give yourself to the down-and-out.
Extending our soul to others, our shadowed lives glow in the dark as God lights the torn up path beneath our feet.
Sunrise by sunrise, God shows us where we are needed. Gradually, the LORD grows a full life in our emptiest places, resting our tired bones, strengthening our exhausted muscles. Overtime, we become a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. Only with God’s strength can we use the rubble of our past lives to build anew, to rebuild upon the foundation of what was loved and now feels lost. With the power of God, anything or anyone can be fixed, redeemed, made whole. Together we restore old ruins, we renovate a beloved new normal. Collaborating with God and one another, we make our community vibrantly livable again.
May God’s promises come true in our everyday lives.
…Sue…
