Something New

This glass piece was delivered to me a while back, with the intention that I was going to restore it and another like it.The windows had been removed from a family farmstead, and the owner wanted to use them in the home he was remodeling. There were some broken squares, but most pieces were in good shape, aside from paint and dirt.

After some discussion, it was decided that instead of restoring these pieces into these (fairly unstable) frames, I would create something new from the unbroken pieces. The new panels would be installed into doors in the new house.

So I started disassembling the original windows. Cleaning the glass pieces will be a chore, involving steel wool, some chemicals, and lots of elbow grease. But the end result will be something better than a restoration~it will be something built from the historical glass, but it will be something new.

That's what Jesus does for us: takes our history, as dirty and stained as it is, and makes us into a new creation. The truly broken pieces he can heal, whereas I can only replace the glass.

God's new creation in us can share His glory in this broken world, just as the new glass panels will spread beautiful light in the owner's home. May I cling to Jesus and His work in me, making me whole and new and beautiful.

Amen.