Nothing wasted..

Back in the late 90’s I played basketball with a group of friends on an outdoor court.  When it rained we often had to use one of the guy’s squeegees to help remove the pools of water and dry the court.  With such a large court it often took a long time for one person, so a few of us bought another set of squeegees.  After a few years we switched offices and started playing on a much nicer indoor court and I retired my squeegee to the garage. 

Over time the squeegee went from being a needed item to prepare the court for lunchtime basketball to a nuisance that, even in the garage, was in the way.  One day as I moved it around for what seemed like the 100th time, I lamented the purchase, wondered if it would ever be used again, and wished it were "Trash Day" so I could throw it out.  Lucky for me, later that week I needed the squeegee to clean off all the water on our porch at home following a pressure washing fiasco.

This squeegee reminded me of our how God often sees and uses our past experiences for greater good.  Many times when we are younger we do and experience things which we may lament, wonder why they happened, and we often wish we could erase them out of our memories.  I have memories of mistakes, harsh words, failures, and episodes of being ungodly.  I can recall hurtful memories and disappointment created by disobedience to God.  Even though I try, and even though you try, sadly we can’t erase these memories or experiences.  We may try to get them out of our minds, rearrange our mental garages and move the pain to the back.  Yet, somehow they keep coming back up.  Somehow our pain seems to come up and get in the way, just the way the squeegee seemed to always show up in the wrong spot at the wrong time in my garage.

It is comforting to know that no matter the experience, God is able to use it to bring glory to his name and to lead others into a deeper relationship with him.  Our task is to wait patiently until the divine encounter to share our experience occurs.  In the meantime we can enjoy the comfort of his peace and forgiveness for our past sins.  Scriptures remind us that God's grace is sufficient and his love unconditional.  Whenever painful memories trouble your soul, lean on that grace and fall into his loving embrace and realize that God may be saving that memory and experience for another time when you will need it, or when someone else will need it.