Still has a purpose even though damaged.

Psalm 147:3 (ESV)

He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

"What do you do with all the junk?" He asked as he walked down the hill.

"What you see as junk, I see as possible treasure," his friend replied.

"You call all that treasure?" He asked.

"Only when I see it as something else, something new."

I've been working in my back yard the last few weeks.

It's part of a "keep myself busy" plan. Since the economy is flat and speaking engagements few, I try to keep myself busy doing things that need doing around the house.

He continued, I am self-employed. Well, unemployed. No, self reliant, independent, and sometimes bored.

So, the yard and the shed need attention. Next week is clean up week in my community, so we get to haul all the things we no longer need to the dumpsters outside the township building.

There was, indeed, a hidden treasure in this pile of throw aways. It was during my digging phase that I found it.

My wife decided she wanted to expand a section of the rock garden in the corner of the yard.

While cleaning up I found this tiny bottle. It's about two inches high and a half inch thick. It looks like it had a cork in the top, but I am thinking perhaps a glass stopper. Like one in a perfume bottle.

Of course, my mind begins to play with all kinds of possibilities. I wondered who it belonged to, where it came from, was it a gift from a young man to his sweetheart?

I showed it to my neighbor and challenged him with the idea.

"It's junk! Look, there's a piece broken on the top. I'd toss it out," he concluded.

Not me. It's still useful. I know every time I see it my mind will dance. I like seeing it as a gift. Not only the imagined one from a guy to his girl, but the gift I was given just because I found it.

It can still hold something. I'll find a small cork and add a little colored water to it.

When I hold it I will imagine the hand that tossed it aside.

Junk? Just because it's slightly damaged doesn't mean it has lost its purpose.

Like each of us. We’ve been damaged, broken, chipped and after all that we still have a purpose. God picked us up out of the trash pile, dusted us off and found something new we could do many times.

So, next time you pass by a lost soul, beaten down and damaged, tossed aside and seen as junk by others, remember, that is God's vessel.

In the right hands, even a broken bottle is a treasure.

Dear Lord, thank You that each of us is a treasure. Help us not look down on those we come into contact with each day. Help us to see their value. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.