Listen

Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a large area of level ground. A great company of his disciples and a huge crowd of people from all around Judea and Jerusalem and the area around Tyre and Sidon joined him there. They came to hear him and to be healed from their diseases, and those bothered by unclean spirits were healed. The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone.

Jesus raised his eyes to his disciples and said:

“Happy are you who are poor, because God’s kingdom is yours. Happy are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. Happy are you who weep now, because you will laugh. Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and condemn your name as evil because of the Human One. Rejoice when that happens! Leap for joy because you have a great reward in heaven. Their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.”

Luke 6:17-23

Think

It’s the sense of relief you feel after a long talk with a good friend. It’s the energy you actually regain after you run, walk, swim, or play a game. It’s the complete shift in attitude you experience after a belly laugh with a group of people. The fancy word for this experience is RESTORATION. Some part of you that was gone has come back.

Summer can be a time of restoration for you. It’s the time between school years when your tired body and brain can rest and recuperate. But restoration is needed all the time, even in the middle of a school year. So how will you find restoration this year?

The people surrounding Jesus were looking for restoration. Jesus, right before he “came down from the mountain,” was likely looking for restoration. We all need to find energy in order to manage the hard things we’re faced with. You might be feeling hungry, tired, dejected, lonely, sad, or excluded right now, but take the power of hope from life in Christ. Love, power, and restoration go out from Jesus.

Gina Yeager-Buckley

Pray

O God, I know that you can bring restoration to me. God, restore my faith today. Restore my desire to learn, to live, to laugh. Show me the people and the places where I can find healing and energy. As I start this new year of school, help me find moments of restoration. Remind me again and again, God, that your love is there, even when I can't see it or feel it. Amen.

Go

God has been there from the beginning of all time and is with you in each new beginning.

May the God who makes things new bless you and keep you.

May Jesus’ love shine upon you and through you.

May the Holy Spirit bring you peace.