Making Old Things New

I have spent a lovely afternoon making all things crafty. 

 

I love taking old things and giving them a new lease of life.  I love finding new things to do with them: painting them, decorating them, embellishing them, unpicking them, restitching them, reshaping them.  The list goes on.

 

There has been a trend in recent years for 'upcycling' (improving and 'prettifying' old things), and creating gifts and crafts from old materials.  And many gift shops and websites have sprung up which celebrate this process.

 

I love creating something, but I especially love it when I am taking something old and am giving it a new lease of life.  There is something really satisfying in giving new life to something which appears 'past it', or which appears to have no real use.

 

I love making things new.

 

I think that God understands this and feels the same.  He is Creator God, but He is also Recreator God.  In Revelation he says,

 

“I am making everything new!” 

[Revelation 21:5 NIV]

 

No matter how 'past it' we may feel, no matter what we have lost along the way, no matter what state we are in, He can make us new.  He unpicks us and restitches us, He cleans us up and gives us a fresh coat of paint.  He gives us a new lease of life.

 

He makes us new.

 

 

 

It Will All Be Alright In The End

I have learnt not to trust cooking programmes. 

 

They do not present a realistic view of what a kitchen really looks like when one is in the middle of cooking.  Instead, they are air-brushed and clinically clean - not an accurate reflection of real life in the kitchen.

 

Whenever I am cooking a big meal, my kitchen looks an absolute mess during the process.  When I am halfway through, there are pots and pans stacked by the sink, soaking to get them clean again.  Every utensil I own is scattered somewhere about the kitchen.  There will be food out on every available surface and it will all look a complete tip.

 

However, by the time it comes to serve everything, I will have tidied away the left-over ingredients, washed up the stack of dishes and cleaned every surface so that my kitchen once again appears presentable.

 

When I'm in the middle of cooking, I never worry about the mess around me.  I know that it will be alright in the end.

 

As Paolo Coelho said, "It will be alright in the end.  If it's not alright, it's not the end."

 

However, I rarely apply this principle to the rest of my life. 

 

I panic if I am in the middle of sorting something out, or working on something and processing or creating something, and it looks messy.  If things don't appear to be in control, I begin to feel uneasy and doubt that everything will be alright in the end.  I lack the long-term vision that seems to come so easily when I am cooking.  Instead, I get caught up in the mess that surrounds me.

 

But God promises that everything will be alright in the end.  John writes in his revelation of heaven,

“Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever.”

 

[Revelation 21:3-4 NLT]

 

No matter what life might look like now, no matter how often I find myself in the middle of the mess, I know that it will all be alright in the end.  Because of Him.