photo by sozoooo
I’m sound asleep and in my dream I stand in front of rows of chairs. I’m speaking and almost to the end of my page of notes. When I look down at what comes next, it surprises me. I look up and into the eyes of the crowd then say this:
When we look at our lives, we label things “good” or “bad.” But when God looks at them he labels them all the same, “Redeemed.” First he redeems our identities and then he redeems our circumstances.
I’m not done with my speech yet but in my dream the people hearing the words leap up from their chairs and begin to sing. And I wake up.
I wander into the kitchen and say to my husband, “I had a dream I need to write a post about.” And now I’m here. I looked up the definition of “redeemed” because it’s sorta one of those churchy words that I’m not exactly sure about. Maybe you too? Let’s look together…
Redeemed – Compensate for the faults of, gain or regain possession of through payment
Huh. I think then of a White Owl found in a thrift store by my friend The Nester. Stephanie Bryant and I happened to be visiting her house the day she brought him home. When he arrived, he wasn’t white. Instead he was odd-seventies-orange-brown-creepy. As we all laughed together about the owl we asked Nester why she felt she had to make him hers. She shrugged her shoulders and said something like, “He could be amazing.”
And after a coat of white spray paint, he pretty much was exactly that.
Nester redeemed that owl. She compensated for its faults and she made it hers. Hmm, sounds like what Someone else did for us.
I’ve been wrestling with a past season in which I made some choices I wish I could take back (I’m sure none of you have ever done that). That’s what was on my mind when I drifted off to sleep and had the dream above.
Redeemed.
I guess God knew I needed a new look at that sorta fancy church word.
Turns out it’s even better than white spray paint because it doesn’t just cover our identities and circumstances…it transforms them.
The owl and I are both quite grateful.
Amen.
XOXO
