Colossians 2:13 “You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self.  But God gave you new life together with Christ.  He forgave all our sins.”  ERV

My doorbell rang and there, on my porch, stood a gentleman unfamiliar to me. Our introductions revealed he taught at the middle school down the road. Curiously, his purpose in stopping by our house lay discarded in our ditch. You see, several weeks prior, a large walnut tree had fallen in our front yard and out by the road now lay a mountain of decaying tree parts awaiting metro rubbish pick-up.

The man’s request was simple: He desired some of our discarded wood. I found myself amused by his courtesy, because, let’s face it, when was the last time I refused to let someone haul off my trash? He thanked me for the “gift” and left me standing at the door puzzled over his gratitude for what I had thrown out. But I closed the door on this thought, assuming never to see him again.

A few weeks later, my doorbell rang and there on the porch stood this same man, clutching an exquisite wooden bowl. He thanked me again for the privilege of receiving my tree-trash, and as I stared at the bowl in his hand, his purpose in hauling off the dead tree parts became evident: Somehow, this man had transformed my trash into a beautiful treasure.

Handing me the bowl, he explained he found it more blessed to give than to receive and wanted me to have it. We chatted on the porch as he spoke of the joy it brought him turning a block of discarded wood into the new creation I now held.

Today, the bowl is proudly displayed in my home, leaving me to reflect on how much my life resembles that walnut tree. Away from the nourishment of its roots, the tree died. Once dead, it was of no use and discarded as trash. Likewise, apart from God, our life-source, we become spiritually dead and useless to His kingdom, deserving to be cast away from His presence. But gratefully, that is not how God’s redeeming love works. Like a master artist who creates a beautiful new bowl from dead wood, God’s loving redemption takes us fallen and broken beings, recreates us for His glorious purpose, and breathes into us new life.

So, Sisters, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, may the newness God offers top our gratefulness list, for no one is better at redeeming the old, the worn out, and the broken than our loving Father.

Father God, thank you for loving us enough to sacrifice your Son and redeem us, bringing us back to you.

Many Blessings for this season of Thanksgiving,

Rita Cochrane