Being bummed, broken and a beacon

By Nicola Porto
Collaboration Project Director of Engagement

It’s an unprecedented time and the uncertainty weighs heavy upon us all. Everyone’s world has turned upside down. As I process, these words have become my motto: bummed, broken, and beacon. The three B's (catchy, right?). It’s likely you can relate… 

On a personal level, I’m bummed. It feels like life as we know it has been cancelled and in many ways: it has. As an extrovert, social distancing makes me weary, yet I know it is worthy. So many of us were looking to 2020 as a fresh start, but that deep breath has become an anxious heart. In all honesty, it reveals the unpromised places where my hope has been found.

My eyes are more open than ever to brokenness. First, the ways I am broken: full of fear, anxiety, false hope, and a sense of control. Second, I am brokenhearted for those around me. So much loss. I don’t feel equipped to begin listing the ways loss has hit the lives of those around me and across the globe. The unknown is crushing. It’s all so broken.

By the grace of God, this leads me to a place of true hope. I believe we, the Church, can be a beacon. A place of refuge and calm in the storm. Grounded in God’s goodness and quick to respond with abundant generosity. As we turn to Him, clinging to His peace and presence, we are a light guiding people to Hope.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  
                                                                               Psalm 46:1
Let it be.

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