Putting Out The Trash

We had quite a few milk crates in our basement.
Years ago, we had a milk man deliver milk to our home but these crates were not from him.
The milk man’s crates had the name of the dairy prominently displayed.
These crates were just your run of the mill milk crates in various colors.

We had four red milk crates that were used to make shelves for my oldest son’s dorm room.
A sturdy piece of wood was placed on top of two milk crates.
With four milk crates, my son was able to make two instant shelves.
He chose red milk crates because red is his favorite color.

Those red milk crates are gone.
I thought the days of milk crates were over.
I was wrong.
One lonesome, yellow milk crate remained, which was tucked away on a shelf in the garage.

I had seen a flash of yellow on the garage shelf before.
I never really thought about that flash of yellow being the one remaining milk crate.
It was not until I had to put something on the garage shelf that I decided to take it down.
The milk crate had not served a purpose in a while, so I thought I would put it in recycling.

With my husband away on business, I put out the trash the night before.
I went back in the garage to get the recycling.
I put the yellow milk crate on top of the recycling can.
I went to bed knowing that in the early morning I would hear the trash trucks on my street.

I woke up and opened the blinds in my bedroom.
I could see that the trash truck had already taken our trash.
I could see that the recycling was still there since the recycling truck comes later.
I noticed that something was missing; the yellow milk crate was gone.

I smiled to myself.
What is it about trash?
What is it about seeing something in the trash that you know you could use?
How easy it is to grab what someone else considers trash but you consider treasure.

When my youngest daughter came home from college, she showed me a guitar.
Mom, someone was throwing this away, she said in disbelief.
It looks like it is in good shape though it needs to be restrung, she noticed.
Why would someone throw this guitar away? she asked.

I remember when we moved our children out of their dorm each spring.
I would see sofas, chairs, futons, and tables piled near the various dumpsters.
Seeing furniture tossed aside that was still in good condition really bothered me.
I thought it seemed wasteful; I knew that there were people who could use those things.

I called the president’s office the week after we returned home that year.
The president actually took the call herself and wanted to hear my thoughts.
Since it is a Christian college, I reminded her that the students needed to be good stewards.
Something they may not want, which they so quickly discarded, could bless someone else.

By the next year, a program was in place to make sure that furniture was donated.
Rather than discarding things, they were reused.
The items, still in good condition, were a blessing to the recipient.
When spring came the next year, there was no furniture beside any dumpsters on campus.

Someone’s trash is a treasure for someone else.
Often what we consider trash is still useful.
Often the things we consider trash are those things we cannot use anymore.
However, someone else can use it; often the item has more life in it than we thought.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:7-10,16-18)

We are simple jars of clay.
The enemy would have us believe that we are worthless trash.
The enemy parades our faults and our sins before us, trying to diminish our worth.
God sees things differently.

God sees treasure in what the enemy sees as trash.
God see the potential in what the world has discarded.
God sees how the old can be made new.
God sees beauty in discarded and forgotten things.

We are like the lonesome yellow milk crate on top of the recycling can.
God sees us and claims us for His own.
God replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
We are made new.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone the new has come!
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

You and I are valuable to God.
You and I have inestimable worth.
The enemy’s trash is God’s treasure.
Amen and Amen!

2 responses to “Putting Out The Trash”

1. I wonder if the people who are part of the opioid epidemic view themselves as trash, or worthless. It is so tragic to see people turn to drugs instead of the Lord who could restore them We need to love others but love ourselves too, since we are made in God’s image and He loves us.

   Reply

   • Sue,
     I am sure that many people view themselves as worthless. That is why it is so important for them to know God and find their worth and value in Him. It is our job to tell them. It is God’s job to change their heart.
     Gina

     Reply