Recycling at its Best

     I was doing a morning run one day and I was feeling good about doing some exercise. There is something about the outdoors that can give you a fresh perspective of life. As I was running, I was listening to my worship music and allowing God's presence to dwell within my spirit. About 15 minutes into my run, I see a brown car driving slowly beside me. Immediately, I begin to ponder to myself, "why is she following me?" I commenced to slow down, and she stopped her car. Now you know I was ready to have a nice conversation with this person who is in the car. Suddenly, an elderly lady gets out of the car with a large trash bag and picks up a plastic bottle. My mind was telling me, "I know she didn't stop for just one bottle." I turned my music up and began to run again. I didn't take no more than 15 strides when I noticed the brown behind me again. You can see where this is going. This time I stopped, took off my ear phones and waited to see if she would stop. Well, the car did stop again, and she got out with her trash bag again. The area she stopped in though didn't seem like there was trash on the ground so now I'm becoming a little angry. In order to ease my suspicions, I waved at the elderly lady and to my surprise, she waved back at me. I walked over to her and she asked me, "how are you doing young man?" I smiled and replied to her, "I am doing great. I am trying to get in shape, so I went for a morning jog." Because she showed interest in me, I wanted to return the favor. I politely asked the woman, "excuse me, but what are you doing?" Her face lit up and spoke to me saying, "I come out here once a week to pick up trash that people throw away and I place them in the recycling bins so that these items can be used for another purpose. I found one item on my first stop but i saw all the trash behind the trees." From my viewpoint I couldn't see the trash but from her viewpoint, I saw exactly what she was talking about. She picked up the trash and I asked if she needed help, but she nicely stated to me, "no, this is what I love to do. You have a great day."

     How many times have people treated us like trash or you treated them like trash? Well, just like the recycled items the elderly lady was picking up to be recycled and reused, God has a way of picking us up when people have thrown us away and recycle us to be used for another purpose. There have been times where we don't see the trash but from God's viewpoint, He sees it all. He is constantly looking and searching for those who may have been abandoned, tossed, pushed aside, belittled, betrayed, misused, abused, troubled, grieved and broken. It doesn't matter if you are the only one on the side of the road or among a group of people, God is ready to place you in His hands. People may consider you as trash and try to throw you aside, but You are God's treasure.