I thrive on making something out of nothing. Sometimes I will pick up a recipe book, but it's usually only to look at the photos. I am far more likely to lookin the fridge and pantry and conjure something tasty from the odd bits and pieces I find, drawing on the flavors of a lifetime of tasting. Fortunately, my successes have far outweighed my flops 😊.

My mother was adept at not wasting anything. A meager budget and 4 growing children meant that all edible leftovers were repurposed somehow. To this day I keep an “imagination” container in the freezer for my soups and sauces, which, I am told, are legendary 😊. The magic happens with what others would discard.

It seems to me that this is how our Lord Jesus builds his church. He is not the writer of perfect programs and recipes for successful organization.  Instead, the Gospels are filled with vivid stories of the kind of people he was drawn to, most of them less-than-perfect outcasts and discards, judged and sneered at by society. His compassion extended a hand where others put in the boot!

 Fallible, broken people, repenting and transformed at the foot of the cross are the foundation of the Kingdom. He baptizes us in the Holy Ghost and with fire and makes a glorious something out of nothing!