My Morning Musings

We have a dryer that has a bit of a history of giving us fits. For the most part it works fine but when it don’t, well … you know. This dryer is now almost 13 years old so, according to google, it has exceeded its average lifespan. But let’s back up a few years so you get the whole picture. About 6 or so years ago, the dryer broke so we called the repair man. He fixed it. About a year later, it broke again. We called the repair man again. He again fixed it, but told us to just get a new dryer before we paid him another fee to come out and fix the same problem. Made sense to us because we had already spent in repairs about half of what a new dryer would cost so we kept what he said in mind. 

Fast forward to a few months ago… The dryer broke again. Now when I say “broke” I mean it still worked but before I could use it, I had to take the top and the front off and put the felt strip back in. We had already replaced the felt strip several times and the dryer would still “eat it up” leaving a tangled mess and ruin the felt strip. Each time, I would fix it and pray that it would last a few more weeks. 

The week of Thanksgiving I turned it on and it began to click on, then off, on again, then off… I was certain it was the end of the life of the dryer. The felt strip had gotten caught again and locked up the drum causing the dryer to shut off completely. My husband called our local appliance dealer and got a price on a dryer. I have the commercial style, large capacity dryer so one like I have is a bit pricey and let’s face it, who wants to go buy a new dryer any day much less the week of Thanksgiving with the Christmas holidays coming up. Nevertheless, we started making a plan of how we could get a new dryer since we were sure this one was headed to the appliance graveyard. 

Before we made it to get a new dryer, I desperately needed my dryer to work one last time so I could dry the load of clothes that I was trying to dry when it stopped working. I took it all apart and carefully started repairing the felt strip hoping that it would come on one more time. I began to inspect more closely than I had before and noticed that the plastic track that held the felt strip on was almost completely broken. I quickly googled just to see how much the plastic replacement part would be… quick search resulted in an $80 part. 

I called my husband and discussed purchasing the $80 part instead of a whole new dryer. He was against it since we had already put money into the dryer and the repair man had told us just to get a new dryer. After much deliberation, I finally talked him into getting the part and hopefully the dryer would get us through the holidays at least and we would purchase a new dryer in the new year. When I went to place the order for the part, I realized that it wasn’t just one piece, it was 3 and the price of $80 was for the set of 3 parts! I only needed one of those parts, not all 3, so it brought the cost of the part from $80 to only $30! 

I ordered the part and I repaired the dryer myself. It’s been over a month and the dryer is working like a new one. The dryer that a repair man told us was beyond repair, a dryer that we too had wrote off because of what someone had said about it and from what we had experienced with it. A $700 dryer was useless to us but a $30 part made it “new” again.

I know that was a long drawn out story about a dryer, of all things, but it really got me thinking about how we give up on people or even ourselves because they/we are broken. We feel that there is no hope, no way out of our brokenness. Holidays are supposed to be a happy, joyful time but to so many it’s a time when their “brokenness” shines most. Family and friends are around more to remind of a past of failure. Reality hits us right in the face and tells us we will never be whole again. We try to put on a front and hide the truth, but inside we are broken.

The good news is that GOD USES BROKEN PEOPLE! He always has and He always will. Take a look at His own lineage. The lineage of Jesus Christ is full of broken people. God has always delighted in using flawed, imperfect people to fulfill His perfect plan. 

In our human minds, we would think that the sinless, flawless, perfect Savior of the world should come from a line of people who were righteous and holy. But the reality of it is that Jesus Christ came from so many broken people. We could go into detail on many of these but for your time’s sake, I only want to highlight a few.

The lineage of Christ , according to Matthew 1, begins with Abraham. Abraham was a righteous man but he lost patience and took matters into his own hands. With Ishmael, Abraham faced the consequences of his lack of trust but the promise of a son was still fulfilled with Isaac. Through Isaac, God taught Abraham the ultimate lesson on trust.  

Moving on from Issac we get Jacob, then Judah. JUDAH was not “wanted”. Judah was from Leah, the wife that Jacob didn’t love and didn’t want. Yet, Judah was the one who was chosen to be in the lineage of Jesus. Still, Judah was messed up! Judah was BROKEN! He had an affair with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and from that relationship we get Perez- Hezron – Ram – Amminadab – Nahshon – Salmon (Rahab) – Boaz (Ruth) –  Obed – Jesse – and finally David…

David, the smallest shepherd boy in his family, insignificant by most people’s standards, was chosen by God and was “a man after God’s own heart”. David’s story consists of extraordinary mountaintops as well as heartbreaking valleys. Adultery, conspiracy, attempted cover-ups, murder, absent parenting, lack of discipline, abuse, division… We could spend all day on the life of David but we’ll just stop long enough to mention the fact that Jesus came from what began as an affair that David had with Bathsheba – you know the wife of Uriah, the guy David had killed to cover up David’s own mistakes with Bathsheba. BROKEN… the power of sin and its enticing destruction was so strong that even the man after God’s own heart wasn’t immune to it. 

Solomon was the result of David and Bathsheba’s relationship and was considered “the wisest man on earth”. Again, we find a broken, flawed, imperfect human. Yet again, we have an opportunity to be reminded that God keeps His promises.

After Solomon is a line of kings who “were wicked in the sight of the Lord”. On and on we go until we get to a perfect Savior. A flawless, sinless, perfect Savior who came from a line of people who were written off by society. He came from people with trust issues, affairs, prostitues, outsiders, wicked people, sinful people, flawed people, imperfect people. This doesn’t give us a license to be sinful and be all these things but it gives us HOPE. Hope that God can and will use us – an imperfect and flawed people. 

I had given up on a dryer because I thought it was beyond repair, but a little time and $30 gave it new life. Be careful not to write someone off because you think they are broken and messed up. They just might be the one who brings revival for generations to come. 

I think it amazing that God used the very people who needed a redeemer the most to bring about THE REDEEMER of the world. The Savior came from the ones who were drowning in a sea of despair and became their salvation. God can use anything and anyone for His purpose. You haven’t gone too far or messed up too much. There is nothing in our past or our background that is too much for God’s grace to overcome. 

No matter where you find yourself today, remember that Jesus loves you and He wants you! Jesus’ family includes people from all walks of life because He came for people from all walks of life. Those in the lineage of Jesus were a part of God’s grand orchestration of redemption and you can be a part of that story as well. As you celebrate the birth of the Savior this Christmas season, Rejoice! The story isn’t over. It didn’t start and end with a manger, it didn’t even end with a cross and an empty tomb, but it continues today. Jesus is coming soon and He is coming for you. Take a moment this Christmas to make yourself ready. Merry Christmas!