Intentional Restoration

We are damaged.  Our world is damaged.  Relationships, food sources, finances, health…we are surrounded by people and things in desperate need of healing and restoration in a world too fast paced to allow time for the important work to be done.  Damaged through neglect, misuse, and tragedy.  Sometimes, it's a slow degradation, other times, it's an unexpected event that catapults us into a pit of discouragement and despair. 

In a culture that expects and even demands instant gratification and constant entertainment, restoration is a concept that is difficult to understand and even more difficult to embrace.  Restoration is a slow, painstaking, gentle, loving process…progress is often difficult to see for long periods of time. 

It's time to pause. 

It's time to begin to make some deliberate choices that will begin to reverse the short and long term damage that surrounds us.  Sometimes done to us, sometimes done to ourselves, but the damage is done nonetheless. 

We must learn to look ever so closely at every detail of our lives and begin slowly, lovingly, to restore our hearts, souls, spirits, bodies, relationships, and homes. There is no quick fix, no magic potion, no overnight solution that can undo all that has been done; but we can begin the healing; we can through small, intentional choices, effect dramatic restoration.

It's time to weave into the fabric of our daily lives things like rest and grace for ourselves which will increase our capacity to extend these generous gifts to others.  We make a million micro-choices every day. 

Begin small…celebrate every healthy choice, extend grace to ourselves when we inevitably fall, and we will begin to see a glorious masterpiece emerge, unique, flawed, ever in need of further restoration, but every intentional choice we make, not only heals deep wounds, but prevents further damage from taking hold and is a step in the right direction. 

We can't do it all in one day, but we can do one thing.  Make one choice differently today.

He is the one thing that matters...if we work to do just one thing of our "get all the things done list",  we are working towards our goal.  Together, we can move from best intentions to intentional.