-by Maria A. Kane

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Reflect

My friend Becky’s husband Nanda is an artist who specializes in glass blowing. Rather than taking flat, unused pieces of glass and forming them into shapes, Nanda takes discarded sticky beer bottles and empty foul-smelling pickle jars—garbage to most of us—and molds them into some of the most beautiful pieces of art you might ever see. The refining process is not easy by any means; it requires a great deal of heat for long periods of time. Nanda must give his complete attention to whatever piece that he is working on when it is in the firing kiln so that he can turn it just so. It takes hours, but in time, what was once discarded as of little use becomes a part of a set of glasses raised together in a toast to something good.

Years of disappointment, heartache, or fear make it easy to dismiss our doubt the possibility of resurrection in our lives. Sometimes, our past convinces us that healing is beyond our reach when healing may emerge in ways we never imagined possible. Perhaps, God is inviting us to a period of rest so that—like the soil left fallow for a season—our bodies and spirits can be brought to places of strength and restoration. It is times like these that we not only are invited to recall the faithfulness of God in the past, we are invited to walk into the safe and caring arms of others on whom we can lean during this period of rest and renewal. Together, we not only dare to see not only what was, but what can be in God. The possibilities are endless.

Respond

Find something today that has been repurposed after its original use. Take a picture and share on Twitter or Facebook.

To check out more of Nanda’s work, please visit www.nandasoderberg.com