Drooping. Lifeless. Abandoned. Destined for the trash. Appropriate word choices for the plant sitting on the bargain rack of our local home improvement garden section.
But you wouldn’t describe these flowering petunias with those same words, would you?
Yet that pathetic description fit this hanging plant perfectly when I bought it a couple of weeks ago. Could it bloom again? Would it form soft, lilac petals again on its tired, worn stems?
It did, and it is…now a beautiful, restored blooming plant in my home garden. Amazing what a little water, sunshine, TLC, and the Master Creator’s touch did for that ailing creation.
God Restores and Revives
What we abandon and label as Useless and Dying, God restores, revives, and calls Beautiful. That’s a principle in Scripture that applies to all of us repeatedly.
I love the quote from the movie Seabiscuit that says, “You don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause it’s banged up a little bit.” Haven’t we all been “a little banged up” at times?
I failed to take a picture of the plant above when I first bought it. But I’m glad I didn’t. Just like my life and yours–wouldn’t you rather forget what you looked like before God breathed new life into your tired, worn limbs? What a joy to know that God restores!
God Makes All Things Beautiful
Whoever you are, no matter what “labels” you’ve endured, or how you or others have described you, Jesus offers new hope. He is indeed the God who restores and revives. He is the One who makes all things beautiful when we abandon ourselves to His tender, loving care.
And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him (2 Corinthians 3:18, MSG.).
He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory (Isaiah 61:3, NLT).
He… rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash (Psalm 113:7, MSG).
Another post of mine, God the Great Recycler, offers an additional perspective on how God brings life and joy from the trash heaps of life.
Have you ever felt abandoned or useless? How have you experienced God’s restoration?
