From Trash to Treasure

From Trash to Treasure

My childish eyes glistened at the treasures before them. My best friend, Greg, and I had energetically peddled our bikes for countless miles, following the old highway, to the local rubbish tip. Sprawled over  many acres were various organised piles of unwanted junk,  household garbage, and randomly assorted trash. It looked like a gold mine to my eyes. The stench was slightly bearable. The entry booth was manned by a friendly bloke and we were in. We picked our way amongst the rubbish looking for those solitary, amazing items that only we could see the value in. My gleanings that day made me the happy owner of a large swatch of colourful woollen blanket samples. Tugging and pulling and lugging it on the back of my bike, I was able to bring it home and turn my precious junk into a treasure of doll’s blankets. As I grew up my interest in the rubbish tip waned considerably and I lost my capacity to see the wonders in the discarded trash.

Then I married Michael. His ability to see worth in the most random of indescribable objects is incredible. His backyard shed is full of stuff which is totally unidentifiable to me; from nuts, bolts, screws,  and tools to bits and pieces, just picked up here or there. Some of the local areas near by have a road side council pick up service for household junk, several times a year. Michael is in his element.  There is always something to be found and something to be hoarded. The positive upside to all this squirrelling is the astonishing way Michael has, in always being able to produce just the right “thingamabob” to fix any household problem at any time.

One day, early in our marriage, Michael, a gardener, took a load of rubbish to the tip. As he pulled the unwanted items off the back of his work ute and hurled them hastily onto the nearby pile, he spied an old forsaken dressing table. It had seen better days. It’s wood was dull and faded, the mirror had long since lost the silver backing and was an old unusable piece of speckled glass. The drawer handles were rusted. It looked weathered and worn. It lay forlornly in the pile neglected and unwanted. It was now trash, but in Michael’s eyes it was a treasure. He could see it’s value. In his mind he pictured all it could become. Seizing the opportunity, Michael hauled the old dressing table from the pile and secured it onto the back of his ute and enthusiastically brought it to his workshop. Carefully he worked, night after night. Michael lightly sanded back the old wood, re-stained the timber with a deep walnut and lacquered it, giving it a rich sheen. The bevilled mirror he removed and had it professionally re- silvered on the back, giving it a look of complete newness. After attaching the decorative brass drawer handles, the ninety year old, antique dressing table had been restored to it’s original beauty. It was elegant, beautiful, stylish in it’s vintage look, and mine. How I love that dressing table. 

I think of how my husband has the ability to see the potential in any indiscriminate object he comes in contact with. What appears to be trash to my eyes, appears to be a treasure to his. God sees the potential and the hidden treasure with each one of us. No matter how damaged, broken or wounded we are, He sees all we can become when healed, restored and born again in Him. He sees our value. He sees our worth. He longs to bring us to a place of beauty. Will I remain forlornly alone deep in my heart, viewing myself as invaluable? Will I accept God’s assessment of who I am and allow Him to restore and heal me? Will I fulfil the plans of delight He has for my life? Will I be recreated to the full potential He sees in me?

Isa 13:12 “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

Isa 43:4 “…you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you..”

Deut 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”