The sun had just risen as I walked around the grounds of the Bryce Canyon Bed and Breakfast.  I loved this shed; it was covered with many found objects from around the area, chains, horns, antlers and wire.  It was decorated with ivy which grew up and climbed the wire which was attached to the sides of the shed.  All of the objects looked to be discarded because they were either obsolete or were damaged. 

        This coffee pot appeared to be damaged and no longer able to hold water.  As I looked at the old kettle I tried to imagine all the times it had served to refresh and nourish the people traveling through this area.  No doubt once it held a position of respect and usefulness as each morning a fire was built to warm the contents of this vessel.  If you use your imagination just a little, you will be able to still smell the aroma coming from the hot liquid as it brews above the fire.  But that was a long time ago.

        One day something happened, perhaps it was an accident and something sharp punched a hole in its side.  Maybe, it had just been placed over the fire too many times and the metal became fatigued and wore a hole in the side.  I do not know how it was damaged, but one day somebody had a decision to make.  What do I do with a Coffee Pot which will no longer hold water?  Will I throw it in the garbage, try to mend it or look for another use for my old servant?  And I am proud to see that someone had the grace and genius to transform this broken vessel into something of beauty.

        Someone still can take the broken pieces of our lives and create something of beauty out of them, if we will only give Him all the pieces.  Have you fallen?  Has disappointment and discouragement been your companions lately?  Do you wish you could get a second chance or simply make a U-turn?  The good news is you can!  If you are still breathing, it is never too late to find a place of new beginnings, a fresh start.  And not only that, our new life can be one filled with beautiful things and wonders beyond our imaginations.  Starting over is a choice.  Let us be the kind of people who look for ways to build up the broken hearted.

Something to think about:

• Change is the nursery of music, joy, life, and eternity.  Change is the handmaiden nature requires to do her miracles with.

• We are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it.

• If we try to resist loss and change or to hold on to blessings and joy belonging to a past which must drop away from us, we postpone all the new blessings awaiting us on a higher level and find ourselves left in a barren, bleak winter of sorrow and loneliness.

• In this life we will encounter hurts and trials that we will not be able to change; we are just going to have to allow them to change us.

• Keep changing. When you’re through changing, you’re through.

• Today is not yesterday. We ourselves change. How then, can our works and thoughts, if they are always to be the fittest, continue always the same. Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful; and if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope.

• What seems to be the end may really be a new beginning.

• Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.

• It is never too late to mend.

Thankful for U-Turns and second chances
Rickey Moore