What Do You See?

When you look at these pictures, what do YOU see?

 An old rusty plumbing pipe with even older old faucets?

 Ancient garden spigots?

Well, I can tell you that when I saw this at our local dump/recycling station today...someone had purposely left this pipe with all these fittings sitting on top of the dumpster just in case someone would come along and have a "need" for it...and as we drove away, I told my hubby,
"I sure would love to have those old faucets".
He kept driving.
I said, "I can just envision all kinds of neat stuff I could do with those old spigots and faucets..."
 He kept driving.
 I said, "I sure wish we could go back and get those faucets before they disappear."
He still kept driving.
I said, "You know, I could create birdhouses and other cute things using those...people love that kind of stuff..."
He sort of started to slow down.
I said, "Of course, I would need help building a birdhouse. I don't know how to use the saw. But you could help me."
He pulled over and waited for an oncoming vehicle to get out of the way. Then he did the most amazing thing...he turned the car around and headed back to the dump! I could hardly believe my eyes!

However, when we pulled up to the dumpster, I jumped out of the car and ran to look, and they were gone!!! I looked down inside the dumpster, but there was no sign of them.  I said out loud,
"Well, I guess somebody else saw the potential in those and got them already."
There was a man standing next to his car on the other side of the dumpster, and he saw me looking and heard me muttering.  He asked me, "Did you forget something, or change your mind about something?"
I told him, "There was a plumbing pipe with some faucets here a minute ago, but it is gone now."
He asked, "Oh, did you want those?"
I said, "Well, I had some ideas of things I could do with them."  And then I realized that he must have taken them, so I asked him, "Oh, did you take them?"  And he said, "Yes, but I'll be happy to give them to you if you want them."  I said, "No, that's okay. If you want them, you keep them."  He said, "I really didn't have any plan for them...just thought I might need them someday."
And I said, "Well, you keep them. I was just going to make birdhouses or something like that with them, you know, repurpose them?"
He said, "Then here, you take them! I really don't need them." And he got them out of his truck and handed them to me.
I graciously thanked him and told him how much I appreciated it, especially because I had talked my hubby into turning around and coming back for them!  He laughed and said "Well, then you better go make something with them!"  And I thanked him again and put them in our car and we drove away.

So now!  Now that I've gone to so much trouble and even had to take them from another person...what shall I do with them?  Do you see any new purpose for them?  What do you see when you look at these old spigots?  Could they possibly be repurposed to a new life? Become useful or even interestingly attractive again?  I truly would love to hear your ideas.  I know, I just looked on Pinterest, and I can find hundreds of ideas there...but maybe you have something special in mind too. Please tell me in your comments.  Here are a few of the Pinterest Ideas:

Pinterest Picture of Birdhouse w/ faucet

Photo from Pinterest

Photo from Pinterest

Meanwhile...while we consider this, other thoughts came to mind.  (And you know, a MIND is a terrible thing to waste!  Just like these old faucets! )  But the thought that came to my mind was  how God looks at us and sees our potential.  Others may look at us...or even we ourselves might look at ourselves, and say, "What could God do with this rusty old person?  I'm tired, I'm weary, and I'm quite worn!  There are surely newer and better equipped people out there to take care of the world these days...what possible purpose (or repurpose) could God ever find for me at this stage in my life?

Many of my friends out here in "blogland" are like me...retired, or almost retired, or at least dreaming about retirement sometime soon.  And one thing I've discovered since retiring almost two years ago is that there are times when I feel like I'm not fulfilling my full purpose here on earth anymore. There are many days that we sit here and do practically nothing...and I really don't like that...(well, sometimes I actually do like that, but I don't want to stay that way forever!)  What can I do about it?  We have limited resources, limited energy, and limited mental capacity it seems at times....(more often than I like to admit!) But I figure if I live to be in my late 80's or 90's, I don't want to spend the next twenty years doing nothing of significance!  I'd like to be "repurposed" into doing something useful, pleasant and meaningful for the rest of my years.  How about you?

A scripture verse I found this morning while thinking about this is in Psalm 20...

4.  "May He (God) grant you according to your heart's desire,

and fulfill all your purpose.

5.  We will rejoice in your salvation,

and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions."

I wonder what God sees when He looks at me today.  I wonder if He sees a new purpose for my life...if He sees my "heart's desire" and knows exactly how to "fulfill all my petitions".   What do YOU think?  How about we all pray about this for each of us in our own circumstances...and then we can rejoice together when the Lord rescues us from our rusty old state and gives us a new purpose and plan for our lives....and

"in the name of our God we will set up our banners!"

Now that sounds like a great plan!

So now, I'd better go figure out what to do with those old faucets! 

Have a blessed and glorious day, my friends!!!

My Surprise "Secret Garden", or The Backwards Faucet

For those of you who have followed the developing saga of our "Camp in the Woods" house for the past year and a half, (Click here for a previous story about this), you will know that I love everything outdoors (and indoors) about this place.  Even though it is far from being perfect, it is a place that I absolutely love to call "home".  It seems as though every day God reveals something new and oftentimes exciting or unusual, if we just take the time to notice.  I have also discovered that sometimes there are surprises hiding right under our noses, waiting to be discovered...if we would only take the time or make the effort to look at things a little differently. Today was one of those days...

It all started when I was discussing with our adult son who lives with us that I wished there were some better places in our yard to sit in the shade and relax in the afternoon.  He mentioned that the area in our back yard under the huge magnolia tree is probably the shadiest spot and the most unnoticed and unused.  I thought that was probably because we couldn't get any water back there to irrigate the grass (sand) and it is in the unfenced portion of the back yard that is devoted to the bear trails back into the woods (and our clothesline, which unfortunately doesn't get much use either).  It is a lovely spot, however, just beyond our "Bird Sanctuary"

outside our bedroom windows.

So, this afternoon I decided to test his theory and ventured out into this little used section of the back yard. I've always wanted to develop this area, but again, the lack of water access makes it difficult to water any grass if we were to try and plant some, and right now the ground cover is primarily sand and weeds. There is an old water faucet there under the magnolia tree, but repeated efforts by all members of the family to turn it on have failed. As a matter of fact, even the previous owner said he didn't know why it didn't work, but it just didn't.  There is also an old homemade stone bird bath sitting there under the tree amongst the wild ferns, but it was filled with dirt and debris and I never took the time to clean it out and see if it would still hold water, since I would have to carry the water to it from quite a distance.

Until today...for some reason I decided to give that spigot one more try.  I attempted to turn it in the direction it should be turned in order to open the valve and get water. It did not work.  So then I turned it in the opposite direction, which heretofore had not worked either, at least I don't believe anyone had even tried to turn it that way.  For some reason, today it seemed to have more turning radius that way than before.  I kept turning and turning, and suddenly I saw a little trickle of water trying to emerge from the faucet!  Then a chunk of dirt popped out (or maybe a dirt dauber's nest?), and "voila"! Beautiful water started to flow, hesitantly at first, but soon more than just a trickle...pure, clear, cool water flowed from that funny little faucet like it had just been waiting forever to be set free!

Wow! With this new inspiration, I looked again at the little bird bath sitting there in the midst of the decaying magnolia leaves, and it seemed to be calling to me to set it free as well!

I started scooping out the dirt (and uprooted a few juicy earthworms in the process), and then poured the fresh water into its basin over and over again, flushing out the sand and debris until it was finally holding fresh, clear water, ready for the birds to come and quench their thirst and freshen up their dusty feathers!

After these new revelations, I looked at this previously ignored, overgrown, richly composted area under the magnolia tree with new respect.  Its previously unappreciated potential was now being revealed to my senses as a surprising place of beauty...a kind of "Secret Garden" that had been hiding right under my nose all this time.  Of course, being the seeker of all things quiet and peaceful and relaxing here in this "Camp in the Woods" home, I knew I had found a new spot to sit and drink in God's creation and become inspired anew.

I wonder why it took so long to discover this gem in the rough? I know I had looked at this area longingly often enough, but had ignored the possibilities because it wasn't meeting my expectations for simplicity and perfection. It was causing frustration because the mechanical aspects of its development were not cooperating with me.

Makes me ponder further, how many other "gems in the rough" are we missing, not just here in our home, but perhaps in our families, relationships, jobs, and even in our spiritual life because things don't work the way we think they are supposed to work?  Maybe the successes we are longing for are still out of reach because they don't meet our "expectations for simplicity and perfection".  Could it be that we are looking at such "opportunities" the wrong way, and missing the beauty of the blessing because it doesn't cooperate in the normal way we think it should be?  

Hmmm, maybe we should take a lesson from this backwards faucet and give it another try in a different perspective...and unlock the "previously unappreciated potential" that is just under the surface.  

My  "Secret Garden" Surprise

Ponder this:

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty."  I Corinthians 1:27

What things might God be revealing to YOU today?

My thanks today to my blogging/facebook friend Susie at Recovering Church Lady, for her words of inspiration that helped me see the potential in my little backwards faucet today. Thank you, Susie! God works in mysterious ways!

Postscript:  I have discovered that "My Secret Garden" is a lovely place for a family portrait:

Don't you agree?