Upcycle

I am really bad at throwing things away. I spend hours trying to do so with things, putting them in charity bags or in the bin, especially if they were a gift ( 6 years ago or something) another reason I am not so big a fan of presents I have a really really good memory and I can usually remember who got me it and I am like oh that was lovely but it went in a draw four Christmas' ago and I never actually used it but I love my friend/family member who got it me. Nightmare. The charity I have been donating to was the salvation army because they really make a difference to people here in my city and because they really understand the importance of the gospel, which takes away some of the anxiety thinking of the people who will be blessed by the gift I neglected.

But some things are worth looking at again sometimes throwing something out is not the right thing to do. Enter my favourite pair of jeans at uni. They got ripped in the crotch just before I sat my finals and I just put them in a box with loads of other rubbish. Jeans styles have changed since then - or at least the style I wear has changed - I converted from bootcut to straight or skinny jeans after I graduated- but here they were bootcut jeans from a few years back. I couldn't give a torn crotched pair of jeans to the charity shop and they still fit aside from the tear of course. So I dug out my sewing box and machine and made it into a skirt. to be honest I still had a leg's worth of denim left over and it only took 10 minutes.( I am really good a craft. I love upcycling.)  Bust instead of something I can't wear I now have a lovely new skirt. 

And it made me wonder about the experiences in our lives we mark as worthless because they were hard or difficult. I think the Lord is a fan of upcycling, of using experiences we are quick to dismiss as worthless and making them into something that is of use ( kind of like the blogging taking the mundane and making it worth reading). I am convinced that God doesn't ever want us to take anything bad or broken in our lives and not use it for the good of the kingdom( in his own way of course). After all we are told that all things will come for the good of those who love him but we are also told to take thoughts captive. If you take the natural confluence of these, the truth is that we need to make sure that we see the good in what has happened to us not just the difficulty see the skirt in the old pair of jeans. See how God has use for it even the worst things that have happened to me God has used some of the most disgusting and difficult times of my life this year for his good. Perhaps its about forgetting the old pair of jeans and seeing the material it is made of.