Trash into Treasure

     Bet I know what you're thinking: "What on earth?  Has she totally lost her mind?  That looks like an old Sprite box."  And you would be correct--on both counts.  I think I lost my mind about three children ago, and yes, this is in fact, a dilapidated, empty Sprite box.  Now, granted on the surface, this might appear to be some insignificant trash sitting on top of our battered old fridge in the garage. And again, that would be partly correct.
     But there are two things that make this box a bit special.  First of all, our children love Sprite, so this represents a somewhat rare, but greatly appreciated, treat around our house.  Please don't report me to the  nutrition gurus--trust me, it's a losing battle, at least with our boys.
     But secondly, though this box appears empty, it is not.  It actually houses a treasure hidden deep within it's flimsy cardboard walls:

     Granted, my photography skills leave something to be desired, but can you identify those little grey balls of fluff?  Baby birds!  A mama bird searching for a good place to build a nest and have her babies, looked all around, all over this big wide world filled with trees and bushes and all manner of foliage... and choose an old empty Spite box on top of an ancient fridge inside a disorganized garage!  Yep, there's no accounting for taste, is there?  I couldn't help but think of the old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."  Thank goodness my husband warned me that he thought he saw a bird flying in and out of this box, as I was just preparing to throw it into the recycle bin!
      After another bird family grew up in the hanging fern on the kitchen porch and then flew away a few months ago, we sadly figured we had seen the last of them.  But nope, looks like we are back in the baby bird business! Every few minutes I can hear a faint "cheep cheep cheep" when Mama bird apparently flies in with her worms or whatever other delicacies she feeds her brood.  The only downside to all this: whenever we walk through the garage, the mama bird suddenly flies out in terror--nearly causing me a heart attack every time.
     God just makes a way, doesn't He?  Who would have thought an old, good-for-nothing discarded box could house new life?  But isn 't that what our Lord does with us?  He takes trash and makes treasure.  He takes that which the world might say is washed up, finished, hopeless, or hapless and transforms it by His redeeming power into something beautiful and worthy and wonderful.  He loves to take nobodies and use them to change the world--from the prostitute Rahab to the foreign, penniless widow Ruth to the the shepherd boy David to the uneducated fishermen Peter to the blind Bartimaeus to the self-righteous, murderous Paul and on and on.   Give God some trash, and in His hands, He'll bring forth treasure.
     Just this morning I read these words from Isaiah 43:16-19: "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way to the sea, a path in the mighty waters... Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
     God always makes a way--He makes "a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert"... and bird nests and baby birds out of trashy Sprite boxes.  Who would've thought?  But sometimes we need to put those past failures and false starts and missed opportunities to bed, and allow God to do a new thing.  Trust that He is moving and making a way even when we cannot see a path forward.  Trust that He can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph.3:20) even with our meager offerings, our small strength, our little abilities, our minuscule hope.
     But it's not about us.  It's about Him... and HE IS ABLE!!   And He is in the transformation business--trash into treasure, past failure into future glory, emptiness into fullness.  We see it over and over again in His Word and in His world.  "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today," Joseph tells his brothers in Gen.50:20.  That's what our redeeming Savior does--evil into good, sorrow into rejoicing, Sprite boxes into baby birds.
     Help us, Lord Jesus, to trust You even in our struggles and failures and limitations, for we know You are working and transforming and redeeming... even when we cannot see or understand.  Thank You for new life, Father!  To God, our Transformer and Redeemer, be all the glory.