From Trash to Treasure

Do you recycle? Do you your have a trashcan where you dispose of your waste and then have a separate can where you dispose of your recyclable materials?

Many people just throw everything in a trashcan and call it a day. They don’t bother with taking the time to separate out things that can be used again from those things that are simply garbage. They see it all as waste. To recycle takes time and effort.

This past weekend as I drove to meet a friend for lunch I passed by a festival in a park. It seemed to go on for days. I decided, with or without her, I was going to stop by and check it out.

Lunch felt like I was stepping back in time to our trip to India. We ate at Chai Pani and experienced several fabulous flavors of India. The chai tea tasted exactly as I remember it in Bangalore. Afterwards, she was up for the adventure in the park, so we were off.

The event was the Fall Festival on Ponce. It was made up of tent after tent of artisans with their creations and food trucks galore. There was even a section of the park blocked of for children with one inflatable after another. It was a perfect fall day to wander through the booths and explore.

There were lots of different types of vendors, but a trend seemed to be apparent. Many of them were into recycled goods.

They would take things that had been discarded by someone else and turn them into art.

One vendor was really into yard art. She took all kinds of discarded metal and shaped it into funny little creatures.

I found them very entertaining. She had taken things you and I would call junk and repurposed them into something else. Then, as the creator, she placed a high value on them. The rooster, which was my favorite, was $195.

Another artisan, Nicole Griffin of Tangerinas,  chose discarded metal to create art that carried a message. She found creative ways to use pieces of metal to make letters. She looked at old drawer pulls, screwdrivers, and wire and instead of seeing drawer pulls, screwdrivers or

wire, she saw letters… she saw words. Most of her signs were words of encouragement such as blessed, imagine, dream, family.

None of her words were cutting or negative in any way. She had taken old, discarded, rusty hardware and turned it into positive words of affirmation.

I was impressed by the various, creative ways of recycling going on at the festival.

The recycling Master of all time is Jesus. He takes people who have been broken, used, and discarded and He repurposes them into one of a kind, priceless masterpieces.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

When Jesus looks at us, He sees something new, something He values. Matthew 10:29-31 says,

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

You have worth and value in the Lord’s eyes. He doesn’t look at you as discarded junk. He doesn’t look at what you’ve done or what was done to you. He looks at you and sees what you were created to become. He sees your great value and worth. Do you know that? He does!

He knows you are priceless, which is why He withheld nothing for you.

1 Peter 1:18-20 says,

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

In God’s eyes, you are worth more than silver or gold. He was willing to spill His own blood for you [John 3:16]. You are priceless, one of a kind.

I don’t know your story. You may have been used, abused, and cast away more times than you can count. You may have been told you are worthless and will never amount to anything. It’s not true! Those are lies from the enemy. He wants you to see yourself that way because he knows if you begin to see yourself as the Lord sees you, you’ll be dangerous. You’ll have Kingdom influence and he can’t afford for that to happen. It’s why he works double time to keep you down. He wants you to hold a low opinion of yourself. It’s part of his three point action plan [John 10:10].

Don’t buy into it. Take a moment today and ask the Father, the Artisan of all artisans, what He sees when He looks at you. What you hear might surprise you.