Word: Restore

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Sentence:

To restore something is to believe harm does not always get the final word.

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Passage:

To restore is not the same as to fix.

Fix sounds quick.

Restore takes time.

To fix something is to make it work again. To restore something is to ask what was harmed, who was hurt, and what might still be possible.

I learned this in schools.

Years ago, I sat in a room with two young men who had shot at each other months earlier. One of them had ended up in critical care.

When they walked into the room, I could feel my heart in my chest and the silence between them felt louder than anything anyone could have said. Neither one trusted the police enough to tell their story. But they trusted me. And they trusted the process enough to sit across from each other and talk.

So we listened.

They told the story of that day. What they saw. What they feared. What they carried. What they wished had gone differently.

No one was pretending the harm did not happen. The harm was the reason we were in the room.

But something changed when they heard each other as human beings, not just as enemies.

They made an agreement not to harm each other again.

And they kept it.

I think about that room more now than I did then.

At the time, I knew it mattered because two young men who had once tried to harm each other were able to sit across from each other, tell the truth, hear the hurt, and choose a different way forward.

That felt almost impossible.

But now I notice opportunities for restoration everywhere.

In families trying to find their way back after years of misunderstanding. In marriages and partnerships where love is still present, but trust has been wounded. In workplaces where people stop talking to each other and supporting each other. In communities where harm gets passed from one person to the next because no one has created enough space to hear where the hurt began.

Restoration does not always mean everything goes back to the way it was.

Sometimes the damage is too deep.
Sometimes people need space.
Sometimes healing takes longer than we want it to.
Sometimes it never happens.

But if we believe in the human spirit, we have to believe in the possibility of restoration.

Not every time.

Not in every relationship.

Not without truth, time, space, and changed behavior.

But still, we have to believe it is possible.

Because if two young men who had once tried to harm each other could sit across from one another, hear the hurt, own the moment, and choose not to let that day become the rest of their story, then maybe there is more room for restoration than we think.

In our families.
In our partnerships.
In our friendships.
In our workplaces.
In our communities.

Restoration does not mean nothing broke.

It means harm does not always get to decide what happens next.

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Your Turn:

Where have you seen restoration happen and what did that look and sound like?

I love hearing your stories. If this brought one to mind, drop it in the comments.

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