I lie in my usual corner in the workshop
There is no difference between dawn and dusk
I have written them all off because every day
Is a bore I must bear as people wander past.
The Master and His interns stroll in and out
Reaching for novel gears and vital tools, none
Of which I am: I am just a rusted piece of iron
Neither a distinct device nor part of a gadget
I am nothing and I do nothing except try
To stay out of their way as they come and go
Lest I end up in the bin like some folks I once
Shared this corner with. You won’t believe
What came my way today? The Master
Strode toward me and I shied away: don’t want
To be stepped on though they be divine feet.
He stopped where I was stuck and stared
“What’s He staring at?” I wondered, bemused.
“Not me! Me? No way! I’ve been here for ages
Nobody sees me, nobody needs me, nobody cares
I’m good for nothing and for goodness sake
He had better not see me now: I want no dramas.”
He stooped and reached for where I was hiding
Picked me up and as He rose, I noticed another
Like me in His other hand, “Trouble!” I feared
As He began, rubbing the other and I together
Now, that was strange! It sure felt weird
But I noticed that brushed against each other
Our cold hearts began to melt, as customary rusts
That has defined us for so long fell off our skins.
When He was done, we both glowed like new
We stared bewildered, at the wonder we now are
And I learned my biggest lesson today: to never
Write off anyone in the Master’s workshop.

I wrote this poem July 2014 in honor of Patti Greene whom God was using at the time to rebuild my broken heart as I struggled with the loss of two dearest people in my life. Four years later, I am still in awe as reality dawns on me, right where I am: a reality which actually set me searching for this poem. I am enjoying the rarest privilege of serving God through the lives of people that society may consider as “Write-offs” and every day, I see the Jesus in these precious vessels. Every day, I am learning to accept the sacred wonders I am honored to witness on a day to day basis. And every day I come alive more and more in Him and for Him, quickened by the richness of His amazing grace and inexhaustible love for us all irrespective of our histories!

We live in a world that is slow to forgive, slower to forget and in such a hurry to write us off based on whatever justification it garners. Lacking mercy, we do even worse to ourselves because of what others have done to us and how they have labelled us. Yet, in this world that is constantly denying God and scheming to blur the lines between the natural and the divine, God remains the Almighty, performing matchless wonders in the hearts and midst of those who dare to walk away from failures and false labels, who turn to God in surrendered faith.

We are all tools and parts of the essential structure that God is fixing and building. No, we are not perfect and won’t be in an imperfect world. Yet, God is continuously reaching for our hearts though we feel ignored, reaching for the gifts in our hands though we think they are useless, to sharpen and use us, just as we are, to bless others so we can be blessed.

People and times have ways of making us feel useless and irrelevant but God is not, never like that. It may appear to us that we are standing by, wasting away, watching the seemingly privileged as they play significant roles in fields we feel left out of, in a world we think is passing us by. Yet, for everyone and for everything, God has an amazing plan, an appointed time. May grace teach us to apply our best to whatever our hands find to do today even though they seem not to yield commensurate or expected results, knowing that in due time, the seeds we sowed though seeming “little,” will speak for or against us as we transition to the next phase of our lives. In God’s hands and house, nobody and nothing is useless. Be encouraged as you find your gift and use it to His glory.

Glory!