A gift broken, a gift fixed, a gift thrifted...Hmmmm, she said. I am not a very thrifty person (I am afraid I am a spender by nature). I do like a good deal, and I am not adverse to the VV Boutique(or Value Village, the local second hand place). And while I do not neccessarily work well with my hands, I am a fixer of situations by nature, a caretaker...or a taker -carer of things, if that makes sense. I am not good at letting others fix things for me. But broken things, broken people, oooooo, they pierce my heart and they are a gift of the utmost preciousness.
1. A gift broken....a young woman gave her testimony at youth...it was a tough one...from a broken life. But like many young broken people when God gets a hold of their hearts, her story is a gift of His graciousness and love. She is not fixed, her story is not over (none of ours are) but the story of her pain, her broken family, her grief, shows how God through His love and the love of His people that He put around this young woman, can sustain us through our brokendness. Her story held us spellbound through it all. It was a gift.
2. A gift fixed....I may be taking some liberties with the meaning of the word fixed in this case....but.... I met with another young woman today, and hers was a story of being built up by God over the past year. She shared her story with me over an interview for a spot on a missions team I am putting together. I've known her for just a few months, but her nature and her faith and her buoyancy spoke to me...and now she is fixed on our missions team. It is a gift to have her...to know I'll get to spend more time getting to know her and sharing with her a cross-cultural experience that will change her life. That is a gift.
3. A gift thrifted....well, I am not sure if this count for this one, but let's see...I got a letter in the mail today from my son's insurance company. He had a very serious car accident last April, and as a result of the claim he submitted, the agent told him to continue to pay his premiums until the claim was settled and they would call and let him know. Well, we've been paying for ten months and the last four months I've been badgering him to call and figure out what's going on and cancel the policy (you know, trying to get him to take responsibility...ugh, painful). He finally did and we got a notice that they would backdate the cancellation to the date of the accident...10 months ago. So we'll get 10 months of premiums reimbursed to us...so we thrifted some dough away, even though we thought it was throwing money away. A nice little gift to be sure!!
There is a gift in everything...the broken, in the fixing, and in the thrifting away of things....
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