by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Restoration

This bird has a past. I don’t know where it had been before I took this picture, but it had to have a past to get to where it is. More than likely this bird’s past involved spending energy flying from one branch to another, soaring high and walking on the ground. It spent its time looking for food, but I don’t know where it look for and found food.

It sits resting from its past.

We all have a past. We cannot escape the good things or bad things from our past. We would have made different decisions had we known what the consequences were for the decisions we made. We would have cherished our past relationships, fought harder for justice, loved more deeply. We have a past, a past from which we need rest.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want… He restores my soul”
Psalm 23:1a, 3a English Standard Version

What we want is what this bird has. We want restoration for our souls. Our past makes us leery about the future. We feel the pain of Paul when in Romans 7 he speaks of wanting to do good but not doing it There must have been damage in his life from which he needed rest. This is the same man who stated earlier that because of Jesus we have peace with God (Romans 5:1)

There is a battle with our past and our present from which we need rest. That rest comes to us when we remember that we truly are at peace with God. Jesus did the battle on his cross. He faced hell for us and won. He faced all our past, present, and future sins and won.

Now God invites us to sit and rest. This bird sits alone in its rest from wherever it has been, but we never sit alone. It is the Good Shepherd who restores our soul because he is always with us. He is always with you. Hear his invitation to you today to find rest from your past in him.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado