you make beautiful things out of us

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Yesterday, I took a First Aid class that my job was offering.  I signed up because my manager asked me to, but in all honesty, I spent the last two weeks dreading it.  I had taken a First Aid class about 4 years ago and it was THE most boring day on the planet.  I imagined this one would not be much different.

But, to my delight, it turned out to be wonderful.  The instructor was down-to-earth and engaging and even better, hilarious.  I learned how to treat dog bites, burns, sliced arteries, severed body parts, knocked-out teeth.  I learned when and when not to call 911, about vitamins that your body doesn’t need, about how disinfectants actually destroy your immune system, etc. etc.  I also learned how to give CPR to an adult and an infant.

But my absolute favorite part of the class was when we were talking about skin.  Guy—our instructor—was sharing about the shedding of our skin every night while we sleep.  He talked about how amazing it is that the body can literally transform over night and

“everything becomes new,”  he said.

I tried not to smile like a goob as I looked down at my paper to write those 3 words. 

Everything.

Becomes.

New.

How could I not feel Love at that statement--feel the warmth of it spread from the smile in between my lips down through my flesh all the way to the tips of my toes?

My God is a big God.  And I would never wish to forget that the Lover that pursues me daily is also King—the Greatest King.

But I also try not to forget that He is not too big to be a part of every little moment of our existence.  He is Small Enough to be there even in our slumber, blowing away all the dead stuff from the day before and polishing the good stuff into the gold that we were destined for.

And as the sun awakes new every morning, so do we.

I know that mornings don’t always bring that feeling of newness.  Sometimes morning can be the most painful part of the day—your heart aching when you realize what lies ahead of you in those hours before the sun sets again.

In my ears, it rings the same familiar bell to what Eat Pray Love taught me about our transforming, changing, growing: it is endless.  this shedding we endure daily—it can be a slow--and even painful--process, but that’s what it is:

endless transformation.



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And I hope that even on those hard mornings, after I’ve dragged myself out of bed, that I will look back at what is left on my sheets and know that He loves me enough to not let me stay who I am.  I will be thankful because He loves me enough to be present in each part of my small human existence—right down to

every. flake. of my own skin.



"You make beautiful things,

you make beautiful things out of the dust.

You make beautiful things;

You make Beautiful Things out of us." {--gungor}