If I Made Time for a Hobby...

If I had time and a place to do a hobby it would be A Finder of Old Things. These used treasures would be restored ...lovingly,  and kept...and displayed. Because for me...

                      they are a symbol... tangibly so, of God's redemption.

We live in a throw away society. Things are literally made for obsolescence. Our market place is made for this. Get the latest. Get the newest...just in time for Christmas. We want shiny.We want new... and on and on... Until next Christmas when it all begins...anew.

I love finding things other consider discarding. I love finding things that some consider trash. I love old things. The time I spend pondering a new purpose for an object, a new color for it,  or even the actual hunt for it...is such a creative, so fulfilling and so passionate a time that I consider this would be my dream job!

I understand the allure of new...besides being well, NEW...it is also a clean slate. No broken parts. No mistakes. No stains, no scratches and no tears...and no nasty history. It is perfect.

In the bible there are more than a  few stories where God discards people. A few women turned to salt, a nasty, nasty flood, a poor fruitless fig tree...and Judas. These stories do not speak to me. The stories that speak to me are of redemption. Give me Moses, give me Elizabeth, give me Peter...Give me Paul. Where God used a broken, mistake ridden, badly stained or a badly dinged person for a better purpose. He found a purpose for old "used up" women that others thought finished. He used men who were not "good" but who were more than a little scratched in character. These are the stories that are meaningful to me...they tell me I still have a purpose. And while others may think me old, broken or riddled with mistakes...I know my God ponders over me as I ponder over an object thinking...

How can I use her differently? How can I make her new again? How can I  renew her life...again?