I Am My Father's Daughter

Today, on my way to the store, I saw a woman carrying this table to the curb. I was curious. I rolled down my window and asked, "Are you throwing that out?"

Yes, yes, we're all done with that now. It's been taking up space in our garage. It's all yours if you want. It needs some work.

Great! Thanks!

I put the table in the back of my car and continued on to the store.

When Mike came in from church, I asked him if he would get it from the car so I could clean it up.

Uh, hun? Did you notice this kinda smells like B.O.?

Yes, I did.(ha ha) I'm going to clean it up, though.

I then took it outside and began to scrub it down. I noticed that it's missing some nuts and bolts and that it also had some stains on it. I figured, as long as I know it's clean, it doesn't matter. Alex will love to have a snack or art time outside, I'm sure.

As I was cleaning, I was proud that I had stumbled across this table and wondered how much money I just saved. Right after that, I had a completely different thought altogether. Like a soft whisper in my heart, I thought, "Do I know my own value? Was God this excited to clean me up too?"

Sure, cleaning up this table meant flipping it over and cleaning out the inside of it first, gradually working my way to the surface. It also means replacing a few missing nuts and bolts (aren't we all missing a few?). Finally, it meant that some stains would never be wiped clean. Some marks can never be undone. While I saw those imperfections, I never lost my pure excitement for my find. I knew right away that I and my son could enjoy this together no matter what the cosmetic shape.

Do you think God and His son could enjoy their time with you too? Keep in mind, you too may stink a little. You may be missing a few things here and there. You may be stained and marked by something that happened in the past. I assure you, God is excited to pick you up and give you a new purpose.

Isn't that just refreshing? Someone thinks I'm valuable. Someone thinks YOU'RE valuable. Someone thinks I deserve better than to be "junked" and saved me just in time.