Thursday, January 8, 2015

Reclaiming Your Life

Many of us have heard of the term “reclaimed wood”.  This is wood that had once been used as a door, or rafters in a house, or an old barn that had been torn down because of years of neglect or maybe even a fire. Or maybe it was an old piece of furniture like a chest of drawers that had been set out for the trash because of one too many gouges in the side, or a corner that got chipped off or perhaps a knob broke off.  For whatever the reason, the previous owner no longer wanted the chest and it was then considered trash.  But when used construction material or used furniture is taken, stripped of paint, sanded down, and old nails and screws are removed so it can begin a life as something new, this is called reclaimed wood.  Someone has seen something beautiful and found value in that piece of wood, old window or old dresser. 

A lot of times things can happen in our own lives that damage ourselves in ways we think are beyond repair.   A lost job, a lost loved one, an emotional hurt or maybe a sin we’ve committed that we just can’t seem to forgive ourselves of and are certain God will never forgive either.  These are life-changing events and sometimes we allow parts of our life to die after they’ve occurred.  We allow the pain to scar our minds and souls so we spend the rest of our lives with an emotional limp that never seems to go away.  We feel that because of the pain and hurt and suffering we’ve experienced that it’s clearly a sign that God has abandoned us or even worse, was never with us at all.  But the fact that we know what pain feels like means that we also know what it feels like to be healthy and vibrant.  It means at some point we have already experienced God’s love and grace in our life whether we realized it at the time or not. 

Deuteronomy 31:8 says,

 “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you.  He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” 

Now this doesn’t mean that God keeps us from experiencing pain and sorrow because He doesn’t.  The reason there is pain and sorrow in the world to begin with is because people’s sin and selfishness create them with our actions and our own words.  This was not God’s design for Creation, it is what we made it by allowing sin into our lives.  But this verse means that despite the pain and sorrow we have of our own making, God is with us and will never abandon us.  He will always make himself available for our healing and restoration.  He will reclaim our lives if we let Him and we can reclaim our lives to serve Him.  Those parts of your life that were once scarred or dead can now have those nails removed, those nicks and gouges sanded down, and new purpose can be found in what was once left to rot.  Will your life ever be just as it once was? No, but it can still be beautiful and others around you who might have gone through or are going through the same pain you experienced can find hope in your life and can learn from your experiences. 


We can choose to rot like wood sitting in a pile in someone’s backyard, wasting away or we can reclaim our lives for God and allow the beauty of the scars in the weathered wood of our lives to find a new home with a new purpose.  Choose a new life.