Shalom.
A word of wide embrace.
Capacious enough to support a world.
Spacious enough to make room for us all.
Reconciling our fear-inspired divisions.
Tending towards generosity of mind and spirit.
A word rooted in the divine nature.
Synonym for peace, mercy, and faithfulness.
God's gift in Christ; our high calling in life.
Strengthening feeble hands that they may build again.
Steadying weak knees, enabling them to walk again.
Encouraging fearful hearts to trust the God-given future.
Shalom is to discover streams in the desert.
Shalom is the incongruent garden in the wilderness.
Shalom is a heart propagating hope in defiance of despair.
Shalom is counter-intuitive, an alternative way of seeing.
Shalom is being unexpectedly overtaken by gladness.
The tapestry, and these words, are drawn from the vision of Isaiah in chapter 35. Today I read that chapter again, slowly. And note that it begins and ends with 'gladness', semantic brackets enclosing the promise of Shalom.
Leave a Reply