Inherent Value

We’ve walked through so much heartache and death with our friends and family over the last year, our pain joining with theirs. So much has seemed broken beyond repair, unable to be fixed or salvaged.

I was thinking about this as I was walking this morning and I suddenly saw in my mind’s eye a picture of a white, weathered, dilapidated barn. Its door was open and inside it was bursting with all kinds of things that had been discarded, deemed to be of no use or value, things tossed aside in favor of new, things that were seemingly useless.

Barns like those are treasure troves. They’re the places where things of great value can be unearthed. They may need some refinishing or refurbishing, but when the hard work is done, they’re more valuable than they were when they were first created. They’ve stood the test of time and have survived. There’s great value in that.

God then reminded me that some of the world’s most valued and treasured works of art were created out of that which had been deemed beyond repair, things that had been discarded. Oftentimes, those things had to be taken apart, piece by piece, then joined with other pieces, old or new, to create something entirely different, something of great beauty, something that the world holds in high esteem, something that speaks to the hearts of those who gaze upon it.

Our lives can be barns filled with all of those things that we’ve deemed beyond repair, beyond saving, beyond help. We’ve tossed them aside, planned on dealing with them later, then they just got buried under the next thing we threw on top of it. Pretty soon, they’re forgotten about entirely and their progression toward brokenness only continues until decay and rot corrodes them completely and they crumble into nothingness.

Instead, we can choose to see the inherent value in those things. We can work to fix, restore or renovate that which is broken, putting in the blood, sweat and tears to cause beauty to shine forth from those things once again. Maybe it’s impossible for it to be repaired. Maybe it needs to be taken apart, bit by bit, joined with other pieces, and made into something entirely new. Life requires that of us sometimes.

Beauty can be brought forth from ashes and those are the things that become priceless.