These old jars weren’t manufactured as fence decorations.
Nope.
They had a whole different life before they became fence decorations.  But someone had a new purpose in mind for each one.

That is just what God does with some of us, He repurposes us.
Today I was thinking about Moses and Samuel.

 

Moses didn’t start out as a prophet.
He was semi-royalty and presumably living a life of privilege in a palace.  He easily could have been a brick maker or a mason except God had a different ‘ultimate plan’ for his life.  It involved him being raised as the son of Pharoah’s daughter.  The repurposing came along a little later.  Moses sensed God was doing something in Egypt with the Hebrews, so he showed some initiative, and got busy trying to right some wrongs.
He jumped the gun and had to run for his life.  That was OK because he had to learn to listen to God before he was really gonna be useful.
That part took about 40 years.

Some of us are slow learners when it comes to discerning God’s voice.

Samuel on the other hand began his life’s work at a very early age.  Probably 3-4 years old.  He always knew the role God designed for him.  He grew into it as he grew up.  Hearing from God and being used by God to guide and minister to Israel were part of his everyday experience.

 

How about you?
Which man’s experience more closely resembles yours?

I’ve always envied those girls who knew by 7 years of age that they were gonna be a nurse or a teacher, or write code and develop websites.
My life experience resembles a game of Twister.  Or the way the Garmin screen looked when we were driving switchbacks in the Italian Alps.  All squiggly lines and no apparent rhyme or reason to any of it.

But when God introduced Himself to me at the Avon lady’s home Bible Study one night—I got repurposed.
Walking home afterwards along the wooden sidewalk of that Mill town I was embraced by a knowing.  Not of the what, but of Who.  I knew that by knowing Him my life would have real and lasting purpose.  Completely enveloped by a confidence, I felt a restfulness settle deep into my heart.  Only for a brief time, when I took my eyes off the Who and focused on the what, has that ever been disturbed.

I read somewhere that within 50 years no one will remember us.

For the most renown or notorious among us some record will endure, but for you and me there is little likelihood of even a footnote of mention.  That somehow doesn’t bug me in the least.

I’m so incredibly grateful that God came and found me.  His purposes for us are the only ones that merit mention, the only ones that have any power to endure.   Knowing Him has answered the big questions I hadn’t realized I was asking.

Have you been repurposed?

If you’re a Samuel then I’m happy for you.
Most of us aren’t.  Most of us are like those bottles decorating the fence.
Finally fulfilling a glorious purpose reflecting the light and hopefully bringing a smile to the face of those passing by.

 

 

Photo Rula Sibai unsplash.com