Restoration Heartware
A heart beats differently
once the nest has emptied
when the center of her life,
for me, four children, empty out one by one.
Scattered to the opposite corners of the country
with two in the middle.
My heart is literally stretched across the map.
So I recreate my own space
An abandoned 1926 cottage on the shore near my birthplace.
Here I birth a new life
After the pangs of loss and heartbreak ease their hold.
This cottage, empty for several years, is in its original state
only battered by time, wind and weather.
Our original design by God was not to experience these elements.
In the beginning, in the garden
we were designed
to be in God’s presence
and to feel his breath hover over us, closely, intimately.
To walk beside him naming birds and creatures and life in our surroundings
The sea gull.
The heron.
The kingfisher.
The osprey.
The deer grazing the shore.
The sea lion barking for the salmon
The orcas in their pod, gasping for breath.
We were originally made to bask in these wonders
To stop in our tracks to witness what the creator had formed
To witness a dark sky move from indigo to purple to pink as a canvas for the rising sun.
The light that breaks open the shadows
and touches all in its path with glow.
Lights grasps in the tips of its reach
the hem of the earth
warming it once more after the night.
That is what God does each morning.
That is what God does in each life.
When we throw back the covers of the shadows that have been hiding us
Loneliness.
Worry.
Discontent.
Fear.
Let God’s light warm us.
Restore us to our original condition.
Like this cottage
Whose crumbling foundation was reestablished.
Whose original pine shiplap was refreshed in white.
Just as Jesus covers our dark, stained places
and makes our hearts white again.
Restored to our original condition.
In our original condition we walked beside God
freely in his presence.
Unfiltered.
Transparent.
Bare.
His presence warms us
His presences shelters us.
Our refuge is in Him.
Our longings for home were created by Him.
When we open the door
to allow him to rebuild and restore the broken places
we welcome a spirit of renewal
a spirit of hope after shadows and hurt.
This is the journey of a restored heart
And a restored home.
Let’s call it:
Restoration Heartware.
