Life Repurposed

I recently received this picture from an old friend with the following note, “My partner and I built this vegetable garden box in April. We used only scrap pieces of wood we have lying around and I decided to use some pieces of logs that were chopped and waiting in the bonfire wood pile to create supports for a small sitting ledge on the edge of the box. To my surprise, wedged into the ground the log started growing. What I thought was a dead piece of wood had life after all and persevered to return and grow defiant against all odds.”

This touched me deeply.

When I look at this picture I see a thing of beauty. I see an item of use (a vegetable garden box) providing a place of rest (a sitting ledge). But the story behind this thing of beauty isn’t as serene as the picture portrays.

I imagine a tall tree, growing from strength to strength, only to be cut down one day without warning. Stripped of its fortitude. Sawed apart for its wood, until its scraps eventually lie idle in a pile, awaiting their final flame.

How many of us can relate to this feeling of being cut down? Of being stripped apart? Of being cast aside?

How many of us feel the pain of lying idle, knowing that deep within we have something to offer yet we remain paralysed because we believe that we are excised from a greater life-giving source?

The log in this picture was chopped away and left for dead. 

Only… it wasn’t dead.

It was dormant, carefully storing within it the potential for new life. For new growth.

What speaks to me the most about this picture, however, is the catalyst for the growth that has taken place. What could cause a seemingly dead piece of wood with no hope for a return to its roots to sprout new life and to flourish?

The answer appears to be – purpose. 

While lying dormant, this log had nothing to offer. There was no hope for its use. It was carded for the fire. But the moment this log was affixed to the box and wedged into the earth, something dramatic happened. It lent support. It provided stability. It added value to its surroundings. And all of this because, despite all outward appearances and circumstance, at its very core it was strong.

The opportunity to add value and support to the things around this seemingly dead log allowed it to come to life. 

And I don’t think this is life anew. 
No. This is life repurposed.

Friends, we may feel cut down, stripped apart and cast aside. We may feel as though we are miles away from our life-giving source. We may feel as though we are lying dormant – useless and with nothing to offer.

But we need to ignore our outer circumstance and look within. For deep inside, at our very core, lie great strength, experience, wisdom and compassion. And when these attributes are acknowledged and offered to those around us, something dramatic happens:
We lend support.
We provide comfort and stability.
We add value to our surroundings. 

Just like that log, we have so much to offer despite all outward appearances and circumstance because, at our very core, we are strong.
We have lived through heartache and disappointment.
We have survived failure and fear.
We have gained insight and knowledge and can boast experience and wisdom from having been hurt and for having fallen.

These very experiences that convince us that we are broken, bruised and have nothing left to offer actually equip us to lend support and encouragement to those who now find themselves where we once were.

When you take the opportunity to share what you have learned and to offer compassion and support to those around you, you add tremendous value to other people’s lives. 

And, suddenly, you see new growth. You begin to flourish. You come to life.

And I don’t think this is life anew.
No. This is life repurposed.