Junk, no more!

As I was driving to my the office this morning I noticed that one of our local suburbs was having a hard-rubbish collection. I was once again reminded of how Judy loves to collect broken worn-out old items from the side of the road and work hard to make them into something new – something that looks better than before.

What kind of items does Judy like to collect? Chairs, bookshelves, pots and pans, wheelbarrows, bicycles, wooden doors….anything really!!

When I look at such items on the side of the road (or in our shed) I mostly see junk – rubbish. When Judy looks at these old items she sees possibility – potential! Judy finds great delight in taking something that is old and broken and working on it, doing whatever it takes to make it new again. She enjoys both the process and the end result…

In fact, as I've observed her in action I can tell that she will go to almost any length to get the work done!! It’s her labour of love…

The word we can use for this work is the word restore and the word for the process involved is restoration. To restore something is to repair something and bring it back to it’s original condition - to take something that is old and to make it new again.

This reminds me of Someone else Who also likes restoring things, including people; people like you and me. I marvel at how God is so actively involved in the process of bringing the relationship He once had with humanity back to where it is meant to be.

The amazing thing about this is that the Designer of the universe wants to actively involve His people in this very same process…the New Testament gospels teach us that Jesus, the very presence of God on earth, started a movement by gathering and training up a group of very ordinary people – people who became devoted followers in whom he could see incredible potential…other people may have seen these first followers as junk, rubbish or even a waste of time, but Jesus could see potential & possibility in them.

I love the fact that God never writes anyone off - He always sees beyond the brokenness and failures. He wants to complete His labour of love to help us realise our potential.

I wonder what you see when you look at the problems and concerns in your own life, or in the lives of others?

Hopefully we, like God, won't write ourselves or others off, but rather we will see the potential of what a life can become when restored by Jesus.