Restoring the ruins...it is a process.
Last year we did a Beth Moore study called Breaking Free. It is a study on how we put ourselves in bondage, either by our ways of thinking, our expectations or our beliefs. We suffer with the lies we believe, the prejudice shown to us, or by the faults and hurts of family ties. Family ties, whether they lie in a bad marriage or in hurts done to us by other family members. Some of the hurts are in being lost, loss and even death. All hurts can be ruinous. Some of the hurts are recent, but some of the hurts have happened long ago, they are ancient, old ruins. What we learned in this study is that we need to think of these ruins in new ways, to have the "courage to extract the precious from the worthless"...to transform the ruins.
Transforming the ruins...I'm in the process.
In the movie, Julia's character visits the old ruins in Rome and she realizes how amazing it is that no matter what disasters had befallen the ancient buildings they keep on being transformed to a new beauty. While I'm not sure I can accept everything this movie tells, there is this that stood out to me..."Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation."
Ruin is a gift, a mercy of God, one of His reminders. If it were not for the ruin, we would not see the need to transform and if we could change the way we look at the ruin, we could regain our beauty...then we could love ourselves and in turn we could learn to love again, despite the ruins...because of the ruins.
"...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair...
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Isaiah 61:3-4
From the ruins...have the courage to extract the precious from the worthless.
