Thoughtful About . . . New Things

This has been a landmark week. For a family whose method of budgeting is usually “Don’t spend any money!” we’ve gone on a spending spree. A necessary one, granted. But still.

A goodly little while ago, our fridge started leaking. Leaking rusty water, that is. My solution? Put an old towel there to catch it, lol. Then a week ago I noticed that food was spoiling about four times faster than it should. So we finally bit the bullet and went fridge shopping. Found a fabulous deal in the scratch and dent section at Lowe’s (not that you can even see the ding), and my beautiful, black, side-by-side with dispenser fridge showed up on Tuesday.

This after a very successful shopping trip with my MIL on Monday. Only clothes (belated birthday shopping) but still exciting. Then yesterday we ordered a laptop to replace the one that died back in the fall. So many new things! Needless to say, I’m thrilled.

My daughter, on the other hand, stood there in the kitchen when we got the new fridge in and the old one out, and pouted. “I’m gonna miss our old fridge,” she said. “It was so beautiful.”

Now, the old fridge was far from beautiful. It had rust stains all over it, the finish was coming off the freezer, it didn’t seal right . . . the thing was undoubtedly older than I am. I asked her if she thought the new fridge was pretty too, and she said, “Yes, but I want the old one.”

Part of me thought, “Wow. This girl is so resistant to change–something I guess we all can be sometimes, even when the change is obviously good.” And then I had another thought. Aren’t we glad we have a God who loves us even when we’re old and ugly and not working right? When we’re rusty and spoiled and left to sit out in the elements? I think we all go through times in life when that describes us. And not only does the Lord still call us beautiful, He also loves us so much that He’ll painstakingly restore us–not just replace us with shinier model;-)

It’s been a few days, and my girl-o definitely likes the new fridge. But she’ll still look outside to where the old one is awaiting the return of the Lowe’s guys and say, “I miss the old fridge. It’s so beautiful.” And even while I think, “Not me!” I still smile at the sweet spirit of my little tyke and praise the Lord for that kind of love.