Ah, that New Year desire to do more, do different, do better, do something bold and new! I’m wicked good at coming up with such resolutions, but I’m comically bad at following through. Extending grace to myself, I recognize a truth: Yes, I can grow, change, and learn. I can build up more. And there’s nothing wrong with who and how I am at my foundation. Maybe I need to get back to that?

                What if everything we want to be and become already exists at our foundation?   Our foundations get obscured by stuff piled on top of them: things like expectations, shame, pressure to conform or change. Clear all that off before you pile on more, then polish the stone and meditate on the reflection. Homogenous at first glance, look again and notice the aggregate bits. Strata, striations, mineral flecks, inclusions, even fossils: your values, gifts, culture, experience, history combine to form a rock-solid foundation.

                All that you are, all who you are was lovingly quarried and carefully hewn. Remove the fragmented detritus, and witness your beautiful wholeness. And if you still want to build after that, now at least your foundation is clear.  –Chris Mereshuk

Global Ministries Prayers for El Salvador

Lamb of God,
You who arrived to inaugurate the time of Grace,
To heal and cleanse the evils and sins of the world,
Be with us, Lamb of God.
In this country that transits in shadows of uncertainty,
In a reality of poverty that spurs the lives of your daughters and sons,
see your Emmanuel Baptist Church,
As your servant, to share the good news of your Gospel,
And this serves for the construction of the Kingdom of God.
For the truth to flourish and bear fruit,
Justice and Peace among us.  Amen.