“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke 15:4-6

“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. Ezekiel 34:11-12

In our home we have various pieces of art hanging on the walls of the house. They represent, I guess, a sense of our “style” as a family. If you were to walk through the house you’d notice we enjoy various artistic mediums including watercolors, oils, lithographs, pottery and even the art conveyed in musical instruments. One of the pieces I enjoy we actually commissioned from a friend who has, what I consider, a unique style. Her particular medium of expression is metal sculpture. She first draws the concept and then moves from pen and paper to the usage of a plasma torch and sheet metal. The fascinating aspect to my eye is that she chooses as the metal canvas for her art, old, rusted and discarded tractor disks that one would find in a field on a farm. These forgotten disks are taken and submitted to a transformative process that results in reclaiming them as a thing of beauty. I am always amazed at the ability some have to see art and beauty in those things that are often just ordinary or in some cases thrown away or buried in the dirt. It takes a particular eye to see in this way. And in the case of a discarded tractor disk, it takes the ability to see the potential of that which lies beneath the surface of rust and dirt. Since we live in such a disposable society, one in which so much in life is seen as increasingly obsolete, it is often difficult to grasp the further potential of what we may have thrown away. The sad thing is that we can see people as disposable and obsolete, as well.

I find it interesting that Jesus never seemed to see people as disposable or obsolete. He seemed to see people as worthy of reclamation for a greater purpose, an artful and beautiful purpose. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus explains that the shepherd is willing to leave the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that is lost. Whereas I might chalk up a loss as acceptable, a reflection of expected attrition, Jesus seems to place great value on the one who is distant, disconnected and lost. Like a discarded tractor disk reclaimed as art, Jesus reaches into the world and finds value in a humanity discarded, disconnected and lost. He carries that one who has been discarded, and by His care and expertise, brings about a transformation, which exceeds what was before. He draws out new life and purpose from what was deemed obsolete and disposable.

There is something Jesus sees in me that is more than the world sees. It is the potential for restoration and beauty. It is something beneath the surface that He longs to cultivate and nurture so that it might be expressed. It is the true humanity He envisions and has created me to represent. He sees the art in my life, though it is buried and lost beneath the rust and dirt of my broken and sinful life. He longs to transform my life and reclaim me as the art I was intended to be in His kingdom for His glory. In the places that I may feel disposable, disconnected or obsolete, Jesus reminds me that there is something to be reclaimed and restored in the discarded tractor disk. And His work applied to my life through the Spirit will produce something that far exceeds any life I might attempt to produce myself.

One further thought; I believe that the Lord longs to transform my eyes so that they better see the potential in the lives of those who sense they are disposable or obsolete. I do not do this very well on my own, for I am drawn to see the surface of things much more so than I see beneath. It takes more time and effort to see beneath the surface veneer of life. I can easily marginalize those who don’t fit my paradigm or don’t offer to me something I want. What I so easily fail to see is that through those I have marginalized as unnecessary, God may be bringing to me what I truly need. May you experience not only the care of Jesus, the consummate artist, to reclaim the value of your life, but also have His eyes to see others as worthy of reclamation for His glory and their good! Now, go and enjoy the art of God this day!