Beth and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11


So I had a pretty rough couple of days this last week. I feel like the text I sent one of my assistants at 1:30 in the morning pretty much sums it up:


"Store will be TRASHED from construction when you get in in the morning. Roaches falling from ceiling. Call Terminix. Office computer crashed. See you at 1."


Do you remember that book from when you were a kid? Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day??


"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."


Bless his little heart. The whole book chronicles this kids bad day. His solution is to move to Australia. It ends with his mother telling him that some days are just like this -- even in Australia.


My days have been a combination of the regular work day with the added bonus of a construction project happening simultaneously for the past week. It's inconvenient and stressful and it's getting OLD. Speaking of old, the late 50's general contractor, has taken up a past-time of hitting on me anytime he's in my store. Which to be honest, was a little flattering the first time, even given his age. 5 days of it? Not funny, not flattering, not ok anymore.


I was dealing ok with the construction and the big work week, until yesterday morning when my computer -- which had been acting up --- was determined unsalvageable, and wiped clean of all my files and documents from the last 2 years. 2 years of work friends. My heart hurts just thinking about it. I have to remind myself that the files on my computer do not show my accomplishments, and that my growth and my talent as an employee is communicated in other ways --- but its hard not to think that much like the last 2 years of my life in a struggling economy in a retail environment --- was it all a waste?


I was reading something in a study last week that I thought was pretty interesting and I keep thinking about it in the midst of my crap-tastic couple days. Jeremiah 29:11 is such a well known verse, and I would guess several people you ask would even tell you it was their favorite.  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." The study I was reading challenged you to think of the exact opposite of what this says, and write out what you think Satan is trying to convince you of when he tells you the opposing message. I came up with something like this:


"This is not going to happen for you. You should give up. Just be ok with being miserable. That heavy weight that you're carrying? You deserve it and should just get used to it"


Satan is the author of all lies. And when I start to hear things like this in my head, I'm trying to identify that that line of thought is coming straight from him. There is no truth in that. Isn't it interesting how a couple bad days can take my thoughts and just dominate them?? I mean, just set you on a path towards mental distruction. Crazy. Literally.

My week is already turning up. Just gotta march right through it right?

Beth

Repurposed....

I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"
they're calling you "God's living children."

---Romans 9:25

I'm interested in the idea of repurposing. And I was hitting a major major plateau on my interpretation of biblical confidence. I think I'll still return to that topic, but I had no new or creative thoughts, and that in and of itself got super discouraging and then I didn't write for awhile, and then I got out of the habit of looking for illustrations....blah blah blah. I'm back. With something new.

Repurposing is a huge buzzword in the environmental and green communities. It's all about recycling and eliminating waste, but I think repurposing may go a little deeper than that --- here's a quick wikipedia definition:

"Repurposing is to use a tool for use as another tool, usually for a purpose unintended by the original tool-maker. Typically, repurposing is done using items usually considered to be junk or garbage. A good example of this would be the Earthship style of house, that uses tires as insulating walls and bottles as glass walls. Reuse is not limited to repeated uses for the same purpose. Examples of repurposing include using tires as boat fenders and steel drums as feeding troughs. Incinerator and power plant exhaust stack fly-ash is used extensively as an additive to concrete, providing increased strength. This type of reuse can sometimes make use of items which are no longer usable for their original purposes, for example using worn-out clothes as rags."


Upon further internet research, I discovered an entire art community of people creating amazing and innovative things out of existing objects.

How interesting is that doll house turned into utility room shelving?! I also really love those lights.  

So I set out today with the goal of creating a repurposed work of art. Easy right? I'm crafty. I knew exactly where I would go to find my "junk" that I would use, and I've done something similar in the past ---- I wish I still had a picture of an old fashioned glass blender that I turned into a fish tank (I cut the cord off of it---the fish was safe at all times).

This is the Kraft Furniture store on like 16th and Leavenworth and it is a crying shame that they are going out of business this month. Because people need a place where they can buy bagged doll heads in bulk.....

$1 per bag or 15 cents a head. Bargain.


There is so much potential in the bins and barrels here that I can hardly stand it.....

Here's the thing....it turns out you have to have a purpose in order to re-purpose something. I wandered around that place for way longer than a person should safely breathe fumes in a place like that, with so many ideas and possibilities in mind that I walked away with nothing.

 

I desperately tried to think of something to do with these cute little bottles... Wind chimes? They don't clink nicely when I tapped them together. Tiny little vases? LAME. I was stuck. And what this girl doesn't need is a dozen tiny little bottles sitting in her very full one bedroom apt..."just in case" I think of something I need them for---you know??

I still love the idea of repurposing. It completely challenges the way that I think. You've got to look at something in terms of potential and possiblity. I'm so quick to say a suitcase is a suitcase, because that is what I've always used it for ---- but when tipped on its side and mounted on the wall its your new opening/closing medicine cabinet. It's crazy?!

Here's where my heart becomes so full and excited --- I'm pretty sure Jesus is the master of repurposement. And I'm pretty sure he's laughing at the fact that I'm just picking up on this now. He can take nothing, and make something out of it. Beauty from ashes right? Our culture pats itself on the back because we're so crafty in making asphalt interstates out of our old car tires, but Christ started this whole process when he redeemed us on the cross.

His death was Him showing us that it does not matter how much crap we throw down or how far gone we get ourselves, he'll buy us back. Even when we are still in the thick of it, he wants us back. Because He's got a purpose :) An original purpose. And even if that means repurposing me? He can do it.

So I'm kind of looking at it as a challenge now...and I am in a sorry state of I-can't-stand-this-winter-one-more-second-ness, so I'm pretty punchy.... but as I've been praying about this, I try to offer God my most non-dignified, unglamorous, unacceptable traits to see what he can do with them.....

Today God... all I feel like I've got a lot of.... are acne scars and emotional baggage.... what do you got for that?

"I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I'll call the unloved and make them beloved."

Even if all you've got to offer is a mix-matched bag of doll heads -- metaphorically speaking--- he wants it. :)

It's not just making sure the original item is not wasted, it's helping it find it's purpose in a new and amazing way. I think a lot of my interest in this word is its close tie to redemption. Which is how God eventually snatched up my heart and I have never been the same --- I'm redeemed. And when that finally got through my thick head, I just couldn't go back.

"Full redemption is when God buys back everything that has happened to us and every sin we've committed....He not only diffuses our past of all power to harm and haunt us but he infuses it with power to help others. Redemption is incomplete if our past is only diffused. Satan won't be completely sorry and God won't get all the glory until the bad is used for good." --Beth Moore

Hallelujah. That's what I'm talking about!

I am SUPER excited to walk through some of these ideas with you. Hope you all are having a good week! Beth