Wholeness

What is broken and in need of restoration? Here's a start: - Our interior lives - Our relationship with one another - Our relationship with God - Our cultures - Our relationship with Creation - Creation itself - What happened yesterday

Wherever we look, we can find something that's distorted, senseless, off-kilter. Sin has damaged every part of God's good world.

Brene Brown says, "Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity."

For me, that's a scary idea! But despite my natural bent, I'm slowly learning that denying and avoiding the heartache of life doesn't work.

We all struggle. Our good world is incomplete, fractured, and wracked with sin.

**But God's uncommon pursuit includes the hope of wholeness.**

What does wholeness look like? It's not the manufactured, photoshopped version. It's to be transformed for God's mission. Consider the Beatitudes, the Greatest Commandment, the Fruit of the Spirit, the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, and the vision of Revelation 21:

*"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God... 'Look, God's dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more.'"*

Meditating on these passages is how I gain the imagination to see what God is doing in the world. Instead of despair, I feel hope. Instead of confusion, I have clarity. Instead of drifting, I have purpose.

**God works in, among, through, and around us.** Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how wholeness is springing up everywhere there is brokenness.

What will your life be about? Will it be stuck in the mire? Or has the Lord heard your cry for help, set your feet upon the rock, and put a new song in your mouth?