Reclaimed Treasures

For Mother's Day my amazing husband finished the pond he's been working on for a week now. I must admit I am spoiled when it comes to having a beautiful garden, since he loves working on it and I love sitting back and enjoying the stunning beauty he creates all around us. This pond would have cost us around $1600 for supplies alone, but almost all of it was given to us for free! Most of the materials were cast offs that people didn't want for whatever reason. The wood is all reclaimed redwood from a foundation remodel down the street. The pond liner, pump and system belonged to a friend who didn't need them anymore, and the rocks, (which were turned into a waterfall), were in a pile of green waste give away. It's hard for us to believe that nobody wanted these precious items.

As I was sitting on the chair over looking the pond and listening to the musical trickle of water down the rocks I began to realize how much this pond mirrors my own life. All of these cast off pieces of nothing that the world didn't want were priceless treasures to those in need of them. When they were all joined together to create this amazingly beautiful little corner of our world they suddenly became incredibly necessary to us. Now I can't imagine our front yard without this pond. When I open the front door the sound of water rushes into my ears and I let out a deep sigh of gratitude. Peace, hope, rest, life, rejuvenation...these are all words that come to mind when I sit in this chair soaking up the sounds of life and nature.

It's hard to believe that God really loves me sometimes...even the junky cast off parts too - especially those. He finds the broken, worn, used bits of me the most necessary parts, so he can show me that it's not me doing the work in my life, but him. This work is much more than beauty rising from the ashes; it's the actual ashes themselves being turned into beauty. I can't wrap my head around this concept, this mystery. But before I know it I find myself letting it all go and then I see the beauty he creates and it leaves me speechless.