made new

I won't lie. Sometimes I buy wine because I like the label. Don't judge.

This particular wine bottle is the one my parents and I enjoyed on the roofdeck on their last night in town after helping me move into my new place. Thankfully it was as as good as the label was cute.

We'd been working long and hard for ten straight days. After countless trips to OSH and assembling one too many items that somehow had that mysterious extra screw, the final strand of twinkle lights had been strung and we were finished. We were exhausted, but we were finished. 

It was a sweet moment. I told my parents how thankful I was for all they had done, for the people they are. Generous. Full of love. Selfless beyond compare. I see Christ's love and grace in them so much. 

One of my favorite photos of my parents.

I'm pretty sentimental. I like to save things with meaning. And I'm constantly looking for metaphors in life.

There's something so beautiful to me about the old being made new again. Giving something a second chance. A new meaning. A new purpose. 

This recycled wine bottle reminds me of how we are a new creation in Christ. No matter what we've done in the past, through Him we are able to have a fresh start each day. 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Yesterday at church our pastor was talking about how David was "a man after God's own heart." The same David who had an affair with a woman he saw bathing on a nearby rooftop, the same David who arranged to have that woman's husband killed, the same David with a very checkered past.

Our God is a God of grace, abounding love, forgiveness. And second chances. 

We can feel like this old Coke bottle my brother's friend found on the side of the road on the way to our lakehouse. Torn up. Tossed out. At the end of our rope.

But like my brother's friend who saw beauty in this old bottle, Christ sees beauty in us. He reaches out His hand, picks us up off the side of the road, and makes us new.

"Behold, I am making all things new." - Revelation 21:5