Listen

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Isaiah 35:5-7

Think

What would a perfect world look like? Personally, I spend a lot of time complaining about things — about all the schoolwork I have to do, about all the ridiculous things politicians say, about the seemingly constant demands of other people. Sometimes, I wonder how I would see things differently if I spent more time imagining how things could be better. What if I spent more energy looking forward to the times when I feel refreshed and renewed?

Isaiah, with poetic words, invites us into just such a space. We ask what the world renewed might look like, and the prophet answers with healed bodies dancing and singing, with a desert becoming a place of cooling, life-giving water. How do you imagine the world renewed? Where do you catch glimpses of it already? Know that God is working in us and through us to make all things new and whole.

Phillip Fackler

Pray

Life-giving God, help me to look for the new things you are doing in and around me. Help me see what this world can be so that I can dance and sing with joy while working with you to make that vision real. Amen.

Go

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever.

Psalm 146:5-6