DUMPSTER VS. VESSEL -- PT. 1

The following is the first of four parts of the "Dumpster Vs. Vessel" article I wrote during this past month. In the beginning of the writing process, I was focusing on "dumpsters." My friend, Susie, visit her and look at her amazing photos, mentioned the fact that we are "vessels". Because of her input, the writing shifted a bit. [She will also be mentioned specifically in part 2.] Overall, I hope you will find this series both challenging and enjoyable ... and proof once again that with God anything is possible. Thanks. CJ
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AS a child and young person, headed towards adulthood, I was one angry mess. Filled with rage. Ready to fight at any given moment. Raised in abuse and neglect, overwhelmed with family responsibility. Making it a day at a time, but having very little hope. I watched the kids around me at school and in the neighborhoods, saw the care parents gave them, the "normality" of their lives, and was totally swamped by jealousy towards them and hatred towards my family -- my parents for the abuse, my sisters for the constant care I was expected to give them. I felt thoroughly overwhelmed by life, buried in heaviness. Believed that, for some unknown reason, I was being picked on, rejected, excluded, despised.

There was something that I didn't understand then. I do now.

We all are dumpsters. “Mansion-style” dumpsters – good people filled with the best possible garbage imaginable – mostly really good socially acceptable stuff – hidden in carefully covered containers, nearly invisible. Or, on the other hand, “Slum-style” dumpsters filled to overflowing with scuzzy, stinky garbage.

However, there is something we don’t generally think about. A valuable item may be buried in the dumpster among the trash ... necklace, coins, diamond ring, lovely pottery. Either accidentally or purposely tossed; never expected to be seen again.

Even when gems are not seen as folks gaze intently at the surface of the trash or dig through it -- dumpster diving -- they may, eventually, be revealed, and their wealth truly appreciated.

Unknown to me at the time, my Heavenly Father, Whom I knew only in passing, planted some lovely gems in my "dumpy" life with His specific purpose in mind. Of the many, I recall four special ones with great joy and appreciation.