2026 THEMES: JANUARY
JANUARY'S THEME: RESTORATION
Katrina, a member of the Baha'i faith and WIN Board, offered the following:
"Our meaning is this: the religion of God is one, and it is the educator of humankind, but still, it needs must be made new. When thou dost plant a tree, its height increaseth day by day. It putteth forth blossoms and leaves and luscious fruits. But after a long time, it doth grow old, yielding no fruitage any more. Then doth the Husbandman of Truth take up the seed from that same tree, and plant it in a pure soil; and lo, there standeth the first tree, even as it was before."
Selections From the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá
Birdie Forsyth, Buddhist practitioner, submitted the following:
"The proud motto for Clan Forsyth - Instaurator Ruinae, Latin for The Rebuilder of Ruins - has it roots in the scripture and is rich in historical symbolism. It comes from the Saint James Bible: Isaiah 58:12 "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations: and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in." It is a legacy of Courage and Renewal. Tradition holds that this motto was bestowed on the Forsyths for some act of valor at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314."
(https://www.clanforsyth.com/instaurator-ruinae)
As a Forsyth, I meditate on this often. What does it mean to serve as a "repairer of the breach" or "restorer of paths to dwell in?" How can cultivate the wisdom to know what should be repaired and restored and what should be laid to rest?
RESTORATION by Rev. Dr. Sally Palmer:
This is certainly a day when I need not just peace, but the peace that passes understanding. I spent three hours on the phone with someone, Eric, who described himself as a technician for Microsoft. We worked through many scenarios of how the alert and loud-voiced warnings would be fixed. Three hours were spent trying to be deliberate and to restore service in spite of the alarms on my screen. Then, my husband came home and took my problem to task and told me that this was all a scam. Instead of restoring service, I felt scattered and betrayed. The computer problem stirred up emotional problems, which I call anxiety.
An hour later, I went to contemplative prayer at the Newman Center. It was not magic, but as I looked at the flowers, the stained-glass windows, the welcoming pews, and as I listened to the Meditation series and the wisdom of my friends, I felt a slow calm. My Quaker friend was ready to talk about what helps, not just his family but his understanding of the gradual work of God. He said his Twelve Step Programs taught him not to give advice, but to shift to a deeper way—by offering not advice but realistic experience, inner strength, and resilient hope.
When we feel anxiety, we can modify our personal need to FIX the problem.
And, with our wisdom, we can move in a more gradual way. That’s what our son, Dr. Shawn Palmer, does when he offers three stages—Clarity or mapping the sources of pain, Clearing Barriers, especially inflammation, and Restoration. This last stage is important because it repairs damage, fills nutritional gaps, and provides “cellular reawakening.” Simply speaking, in his language, the cells need to be restored to do the job they used to do.
Spiritually speaking, we all can use some restoring—not just in daily prayer but in taking real time to walk, to observe Sabbaths, to go on a retreat. Somehow, we need to shift from the focus of our problems to The One Who promised us peace.
In seminary, every semester, Dr. Potthoff told us of the fish who worried so much about the “yawning chasm below.” Then, the fish had an idea “If I can catch hold of my tail in my mouth, I can hold myself up.” At the height of his frustration, a voice came to him—“I am the great ocean in which you live and move and have your being. I have given all of myself to you in which to be a fish.” Then, this creature stopped struggling, put his “end” behind him and set out to explore the ocean.
Sometimes, restoration means that we can “come back to ourselves” again.
Ron Frost, Buddhist practitioner, offered the following thoughts on Restoration:
Most of us spend our time engaging in the many projects that define our life in this world. Because few of us are monks or nuns, who can spend their whole life in in spiritual contemplation, it is totally normal for us to spend much of our time organizing our affairs in the material world. Unfortunately, while we are doing this, we often lose whatever connection we have to the spiritual world. Contemplative practice is designed to restore that spiritual connection even as we engage in the many projects we have that allow us to survive in the material world. In contemplative practice you sit quietly and watch your mind. The whole concept behind contemplative practice is that as thoughts arise, you simply watch them and let them be. Even if the thought involves an important action you must do in the material world, if you sit long enough the imperative nature of the thought will eventually dissolve. If you practice Contemplative Prayer long enough you will learn that despite all the worries that your thoughts carry around, those thoughts are essentially empty; if you watch them long enough, they will disappear. What won’t disappear, though, is the energy of the thought itself. Father Thomas Keating, who introduced Centering and Contemplative Prayer to modern Christianity, calls that energy the mind of God. By practicing contemplative prayer, therefore, you are accomplishing two goals at once. You are observing how trivial your everyday worries are while, at the same time, you are restoring your ties with your birthright – the spiritual world around you.
Liz, who is a Druid, sent the following:
The “Children of Dune” miniseries (follow up to the “Dune” miniseries) is in many ways a meditation on the cycle of liberation, corruption, and the desire for restoration, as evidenced by the reflections of various characters.
*{An overarching perspective.}
Princess Irulan [opening narration]: Twelve years of war. Twelve years since Emperor Shaddam IV was defeated and Paul-Maud’dib’s wild Fremen spread out across the universe, exterminating all that remained of the old imperial armies, colonizing the planets of the known universe one by one under his rule, sweeping away anything, and anyone, who resisted. Millions have been defeated. Millions more have been slaughtered. There are no innocents anywhere. And the name of Maud’dib is no longer a prayer; for many, it is now a curse… If history teaches us anything, it is simply this: every revolution carries within it the seeds of its own destruction, and empires that rise will one day fall.
*{A perspective from the exiled House Corrino, family of Shaddam IV.}
Tyekanik [advisor to House Corrino]: Your mother is an ambitious woman, my Prince.
Prince Farad'n: Her ambitions tend to be undisturbed by reality, I’m afraid.
Tyekanik: You don’t share her desire to regain your grandfather’s throne for yourself?
Prince Farad'n: Only a fool covets power without appreciating its delicate uses or fearing its inherent perils. The world of Shaddam IV remains only in the texts of crumbling history books. We hate the empire that defeated it, but we have *no* idea what we’d like in its place.
Tyekanik: The kind of society we once had, I assume.
Prince Farad'n: My mother may believe that’s possible, Tyek, but I’m not so sure. I’m just not so sure.
*{The Fremen/House Atreides perspective, in response not just to the ill effects of the Fremen supremacy, but also the ill effects of their terraforming attempts/climate change of their home planet.}
The Preacher [actually Paul-Maud’dib in disguise]: [Crowd chanting, “Maud’dib”] Who is it who calls for Maud’dib? [“Help us, Maud’dib!” “Deliver us, Maud’dib!” More chanting.] Maud’dib’s words are the wind! They vanish, like water on the sand! I’ll give you Maud’dib’s words. I’ll rub your faces in them!!! [More chanting.] I am the voice from the wilderness, and I bring you a warning. The water we spread upon the desert has become blood, blood upon the land that was once clean and pure. We have provoked the desert, forsaken its ways, succumbed to mindless ritual and seductive ceremony, placed faith in those who crush dissent, enrich themselves with power, commit atrocity, all in the name of righteousness!!! All in the name of [spits out] *Maud’dib*. We have fouled the nest, and it is killing us!!!
But I have seen another path, a Golden Path, the path Maud’dib could not take. I have stood upon the sand, and I have seen a beast rise up, and upon the head of that beast is the name of salvation, come to spill water upon the sand, come to lead us back to a dry and thirsty land.
*{And as the final word, after Leto II gains majority as head of House Atreides and Alia (his aunt, Paul-Maud’dib’s sister, and former regent), who ultimately became the embodiment of all the corruption of the regime, dies by suicide.}
[Leto II appears carrying the body water of Alia. He hands the water jugs to Stilgar, leader of the Fremen.]
Leto II: Alia’s water. Take it into the desert and spread it upon the open sand in the noon day sun. It is our way. [beat] Are you going back to Sietch Tabr [Stilgar’s desert home]?
Stilgar [through gritted teeth]: I wish to return to our old ways.
Leto II: The desert’s *dying*, Stil.
Stilgar: And the Fremen too, I’m afraid.
Leto II: Oh, we’re about to go through the crucible, but we’ll come out the other side. We always arise from our own ashes. Everything returns later in its… changed form. [Hands Stilgar the ring of House Atreides.]
Stilgar [smiles in recollection]: Your grandfather’s ring. And your father’s.
Leto II: And now the Fremen’s. To remind you of Maud’dib… to remind you that all humans make mistakes… and that all leaders are but human. [Stilgar nods, understanding, and Leto II slowly walks away.]
Kim shared the following quote by Louise Bourgeois:
Art is restoration: the idea is to repair the damages that are inflicted in life, to make something that is fragmented—which is what fear and anxiety do to a person—into something whole.
