Repurposing Broken

An ice storm hits and tears down limbs and breaks off treetops and leaves our two-and-a-half-acre lot in shambles. We hear a creak in the night and awake to find a huge pine tree limb that has fallen on the electric line that brings light to our home. Somehow, our energy stays connected and we do not lose our electricity. That morning, we peruse our backyard and see devastation all around. So much damage. We say it looks like a war zone.

Within a matter of six months, our community has seen a tornado, about four major winter storms, devastating floods, and a major ice storm. And as spring approaches, our backyard trees look weathered and broken. And my spirit feels it too.

So when I hear the forecast — another winter storm warning, six to twelve inches possible, my soul grasps for the hope of spring, as if spring itself were the cure for the weariness that threatens to overcome. But I wake this morning to the picture of life that graces my front window. And I see the truth of what a snow storm can bring. The glory of a thick blanketing snow that covers acres of brokenness and makes masterpiece out of the damaged.

And I remember His promise of snow-blanket grace that covers broken humankind. Broken me. And transforms it into treasure for Himself.

Could it be that His idea was not to “fix” the broken but to use it in His masterpiece? To re-purpose the broken and devasted and use it for His glory?

 He makes beauty even of fallen limbs that mar what I thought was the beauty of my backyard. Turns out, He was just remodeling.