40 Days of Now: Day 10

(This post is part of a series. If you'd like to know what it's all about, go here.)

Hi. I think I love you. I know I love you, totally and unashamedly. I know this because I'm about to show you the most disgusting part of my house. We have a big utility sink in our garage which drains out right into a hole in the middle of the floor. I have never bothered to clean this little area in the four years since we have lived here. It's real classy lookin'. Despite that, it's not usually an area of interest to the kids. So when all three of them were huddled around the hole today, making excited little noises, I naturally shoved my way through the crowd to see what all the commotion was about.

"Mommy, it's a plant! A little plant is growing!" Sure enough, there it was. An innocent, hopeful little seedling, bursting with life, right there in the darkest, slimiest part of the house. Oh, what a picture of hope, I thought. So, I took a picture of the picture of hope. And the flash on my camera illuminated some things that I couldn't even see until I downloaded the pictures.

Millipedes! Cobweb! Unidentifiable Gunk! How do you like that? I super-sized it, so you could see the millipedes, 'cause I know you really want to see them. They're on the left, crawling around the side. They're black. I didn't know they were there! I don't know why that kind of creeps me out. Bugs don't usually bother me. Also, check out the dried up old worms laying by the edge of the hole. Have you had enough? 'Cause I'm just getting started here. I mean, is that a dead granddaddy long legs there? I walk by this hole every day. Maybe I should clean it. Next week.

Okay, it's time to get serious. This little seedling, growing up out of the depths of a nasty hole, is a great reminder of the power of the new life we have in Christ! It is resurrection life! A life redeemed from the pit.

Oh, God of Life, only You can bring life out of death, hope out of hopelessness. You bring beauty out of our ashes. You lift us up out of the slime of our circumstances and shine Your light on us.  You clear out the cobwebs, and sweep away the stench of decay. You make us new! You make us new! My heart rejoices over You. ~R

Beautiful Things

Gungor

All this pain

I wonder if I’ll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make me new, You are making me new