Turning Scraps Into Treasure

Turning Scraps into Treasure

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Philippians 2:4

When I picked up my daughter from piano lessons, her teacher pulled me aside for an extra moment to show me a beautiful blanket. It was hand knit by a woman who, keeping needles and yarn by her side constantly, spends all her spare minutes with knitting needles flying. The blankets she knits are gorgeous, and she drops them off at Karen’s house, knowing that our school’s music teacher will quietly gift them to school families who need a helping hand.

Running my hands over the perfect stitches and the multihued chevron design, tears sprang to my eyes because of the love and the time I knew she poured into such a gift. Karen then said, “But Julie, you haven’t seen the best part—look at what she does with the scraps.”

Setting one blanket down, I shifted my attention across the room as the stunning creation was unfurled. It was the same chevron pattern, but this version was knit from all the pieces of leftover yarn—the scraps—and it was a magnificent riot of colors whose crazy combination of hues somehow blended into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

That blanket was knit from the scraps—the little ends and pieces that most would have discarded as worthless, as too small to make a difference, as a waste of time. But all knitted together, they became the most beautiful blanket I’ve ever seen. This idea has been banging around my head since I held that blanket: what we consider “scraps”—those things about us that are less than perfect—can be used by God in the most glorious ways.

As we lift our lives to God with open hands, let’s ask him how we can be used to pour into those around us. Let’s pray for opportunities to look beyond our own interests and instead respond to the needs and interests of those we meet. May we listen carefully for how God might want to use the scraps of our lives. It is often the things we deem worthless about ourselves that are used by God to provide immense blessing to others.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Spend time in prayer offering God the “scraps” of your life and asking him to use them to bless someone else immeasurably.