One of the things I inherited from my grandmother is an old green chair. I didn’t like the color, but I always saw potential in it. For a couple years, I planned to reupholster it, but never got around to it. As life went on, and I made way for the new in my house, I put the chair outside. Then one day, I looked at it and decided to make a planter out of it. That was before I took the cushions off. Now it looks like this.
There is another possession of mine - a series of memories I am trying to cope with or DIY, if you will. It was an opportunity for something in my life, an opportunity I rejected because I didn’t see or understand what could be. I know I can never go back and change the past. I can only work with what I have today.
Just like I don’t have a picture of the chair the way it was before, I suppose I have an incomplete picture of the situation in my mind. But I do remember enough to know there are pieces of those memories I will always treasure. And if I am adventurous enough to make this chair into a planter, those memories will be with me as I fill a flower pot with soil and plant some seeds. Seeds for something new.
I marvel at how God empowers us to have purpose for life. I find that when I feel down or am wondering what to do, just thinking about what I am going to do next can help. Something I watched recently explored what it means to be human, and tried to find the answers to what makes up our sense of purpose. They left out something, though. The most simple and yet profound answer is that God made us creative and purposeful like he is. That knowledge gives me hope as I repurpose and plant. I hope it does you too.