Mixed Play-doh

I don’t know about you, but I distinctly remember in my childhood being warned not to mix the colors of my Play-doh. “Keep the blue and red separate. Once they’re mixed, you won’t be able to undo them and the Play-doh will be ruined.”!

I wonder if, in life, we sometimes feel like mixed Play-doh. We feel like, because of certain circumstances or choices that we’ve made, our color isn’t as pure or bright or beautiful: “Because I was abused, I’m now damaged goods.” “Because I went too far with my girlfriend, I’m not as pure as I was.” Because my parents got divorced, or because I got divorced, people will view me as a failure.” “Because I’m not a size 2, no one will see me as valuable.” Because… well, you can fill in the blank. There are so many things out there than can cause us to feel less than, so many things that challenge our value or cause us to question our worth in the world or make us feel like an accident or passed over. So many circumstances and choices that make us feel like mixed Play-doh.

Here’s the thing about mixed Play-doh, though. As my own child swirls the colors together, I can’t help notice the beauty of his new creation. Sure, there’s no way that I’m separating those colors, no way that I can make it look like it once way. Yet there’s something mesmerizing about swirl of the colors coming together; there’s something attractive and eye catching about his new combined creation that the pure, fresh out of the container dough doesn’t possess.

I think that’s how God views our mixed Play-doh lives. Rather than condemn us for where we’ve fallen short, He calls us to come to Him: “Come here, My child. Bring Me your mistakes and shortcomings and blatant disobedience to me. Repent, and let Me redeem your brokenness.” When we’ve been cut down by the pains of a fallen world, He doesn’t see us as broken, useless vessels. Rather, He calls us to come to Him: “Come here, My child. Bring Me your hurts and heartaches, bring the injustices you’ve experienced. I too have been scarred by this fallen world. Come to me and trade your sorrows for My joy, your hurt for My love, your fear for My peace.”

Praise God that He does not leave us in our broken state! He promises to redeem and restore us. He doesn’t call us broken but beloved. Praise God that He’s powerful enough to transform the pains of our lives into a beautiful testimony of His character. Praise God that He’s big enough to transform the disappointments of our lives into a grandness greater than we could ever dream of! Praise God that He can take Play-doh discarded by the world’s standards and redeem it to intricate beauty.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:10

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 44:22

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe. Psalm 107:2

You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:57-58

And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14