Restoring the soul

Monday April 27^th, Psalm 23: He makes me lie down in green pastures, and leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul and guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. There is a restoring that goes on in the presence of the Lord. We were created and called good in the beginning and when we get askew, which is all of us some of the time and most of us most of the time, we are re-created through the love of Christ.  When we gather in the word, when we hear the stories, when we feel the presence of a loving community, we are refreshed, restored, reborn and recreated in the image of God. Sometimes we like to take our own paths in life and claim them as the Lord’s path; when we do, we find a community broken, restoration broken, anger grows, and selfishness and war break out as self-defeating self-defense moves. When we again look to the Lord and the ways of the Lord, we find a grace filled community filled with healing and wholeness and calling us back to the commandment of God to love one another as we have been loved by God.  It is in loving others, loving God and loving self that we find the paths of righteousness.  It is a true righteousness that comes from God and lives in harmony in the company of our brothers and sisters and friends and enemies. The righteousness that comes from the self, self-righteousness, lives alone in a world of conflict and points to what others are doing wrong in its “Oh not so humble” opinion. The path of righteousness that comes from God is the path that leads through brokenness to wholeness and a peace that can only come from God.