Restoration

Each year around the time of the 9/11 anniversary, I think about the year 2001. It was certainly one of the darkest years of my life: my mother died in June, my grandmother died in July and my other grandmother in December. It was a numbing series of events to be sure.

One of the more unfortunate memories I have of my mother was the fact that she smoked; the other was how much she berated her own physical appearance. I remember a point in my life when I saw a picture of her when she was young, before she got married and how struck I was by how different she looked. I realized then just how much the smoking had changed her physical appearance!

When Jesus was on the earth, I wonder how he saw the people he looked at? I wonder how much of people's destiny he saw? He walked in unbroken communion with the Holy Spirit, who communicated the thoughts, words and desires of His Father, so how did Jesus see people? Since the Father created us all, and knit us together, he knows the fullness of the potential that He placed within us. How much of that did Jesus see when he looked at the people around Him? Was it the difference between the reality of the people's lives versus the potential and destiny each person was created with, that moved Jesus:

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matt. 9:36)

For most of my childhood, I had no knowledge of what my mother looked like when she was a young woman. Yet at some point, when I saw who she was, who God created her to be (physically), I was impacted at how different she looked in the present.

The vast majority of the time when I find people irritating, I don't think about who they were created to be, and what wounds in their lives have led them to act and live the way they do now. I think the reason why Jesus had so much compassion for the people was because he saw difference between who they were created to be and who they presently were. I also think He understood like nobody else, the full extent of God's ability to change and transform. I think He was reminded all the time that what He would do on the cross would open the way to the healing and transformation that was needed in people's lives.

Today I was at Starbucks (big surprise!) and happened to overhear a conversation at the table next to me. I felt like the Spirit gave me an awareness of how unhappy this woman was. Not so much sad, as just unhappy with the world around her. At the same time, I began to have these thoughts about who she had been created to be and how different it was from who she is today.

Practically speaking, I felt God directing me to focus more on who people have been created to be more than on who they presently are. Perhaps then I will have more compassion for the people around me.

Our great hope is that Jesus has come to bring restoration. In this age we see a real measure of that restoration (indeed, we ourselves are to be agents of that restoration to people around us) and one day Jesus will make ALL things new!

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:4-5)