Trash Collectors

One of my college students was in a dilemma as to what to do for her Narrative Speech. Her part-time job at college consisted of help in the maintenance department. It was while she was working, emptying trash cans, when she remembered the rebuke of a former high school teacher, “If you don’t straighten up your life, you’re going to end up being a trash collector!” The irony of her situation gave her the impetus for her speech.

An art major, she recalled her senior high school project. She had constructed a mural consisting of literal pieces of “trash,” discarded items that no one had further need of. Yet in the middle of her display, she fashioned the semblance of a cross. The message was subtle, yet powerful: Jesus stands in the middle of the broken, cast away pieces of our lives to create something beautiful. She told the story—her story—of how God had used her to reach out to the “discarded people” in her school. She befriended those whom others avoided. She embraced the lonely, the unpopular, the rejected. Like the cross on her mural, she offered hope in the midst of turmoil, directing lives littered with the debris of pain to the love of God.

We, as Christians, carry good news. The Holy Spirit living in us can mend broken lives, heal devastating wounds and bring light to dark corners. We have been commissioned by our Redeemer to let people know how he has transformed our own rubbish to make us his masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10) and reveal how he will do the same for them.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Iran? China? Venezuela? Is there anything that can be salvaged in New York City? Toronto, Canada? Can restoration come from lives torn by addiction, abuse and poverty?

My God says Yes!

Thank you, Father, that in your mercy, you transformed the broken pieces of my life into something new and beautiful. Help all of us who have experienced your grace and mercy share the good news.

Throughout the Day: Picture all the unlovely parts of your life on a canvas like my student’s mural. Then picture the cross of Jesus right in the middle. Thank him for redemption.