Anyone with frugal parents or grandparents knows that repurposing is not a new idea. My parents shopped for the best sales, used the item lovingly, and then repurposed it with a new life when ‘it was time.’
Repurposing was a choice except for the lean years. During the
lean years, it was the best way to get ‘new’ things, even for Christmas. My
favorite example is the year I was five or six. I unwrapped a new doll’s bed made from a shoebox covered with fabric with a tiny matching blanket and
pillow inside. Repurposed shoe box. Brand new doll bed. I also got a gold teddy
bear which looked just like the one that had gone missing from my bedroom a few
days earlier. Only now it had a new bright
red jacket, turning it into a Winnie the Pooh wannabe. Repurposed bear. Brand new
Pooh.
Mom may have been the repurposing queen, but God is the repurpose
master. He created us and let us wear ourselves threadbare, attempting to live
this life on our own strength and knowledge. And then when we ran out of our ourselves,
He clothed us anew with His strength and His knowledge.
…since you have put
off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being
renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. [Col 3:9-10, CSB]
Repurposed old self. Brand new self in Christ.
Repurposed mess. Brand new compassionate, kind, humble,
gentle, patient, forgiving, loving one.
It is time. Let the master repurpose our own agenda to the
one He had planned for us all along. Second chances. Clean slates. Do overs. But
this time, clothed in His goodness. Jesus offers the best of repurposed gifts!
