broken hats and disposable people

I know that my posts are usually quite light-hearted, but sometimes (quite often actually!) God talks to me, or more accurately challenges me through everyday situations. This happened yesterday. I thought I might as well blog about it, maybe more for my benefit than anyone elses!


Lily came to me wearing her once gorgeous, but now very tatty and falling apart hat. Let's just say it wasn't doing much for her! I told her it was broken, so we'd have to throw it away. "No, you can fix it Mummy" she replied. Mmmm...... This is where the God moment came in ..... Why is it that we've come to treat nearly everything as disposable. Even life. Yes, I could fix the hat. It would take hard work, creative thinking, time and energy. It wouldn't even look perfect or good as new when done, but it would be fixed and Lily would be happy.


How often do we treat human life with that same disposable attitude? From the parent that leaves their baby in a latrene pit, to the person who does nothing to help - 'to fix it'. We come across people every day in all forms of 'brokenness' - what are we doing to 'fix' them? Aren't they worth the time, energy, hard work and creative thinking to direct Gods love toward them even more than a hat, allowing them to journey towards wholeness and restoration? They won't be made perfect, and may not even become as good as before. They'll be different - yes. But that difference is the developing of a testimony of a loving God that is into 'fixing the broken'.

Isaiah 58 v6-12"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'


A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again. "