I have this scruffy old fence panel at the back of my garden that doesn’t match the rest. I’m so conscious of it sticking out like a sore thumb.

But recently, after moving some plants around in the garden, I discovered it makes the perfect backdrop for this orange rose. Something about that battered, weather-beaten wood only serves to highlight the beauty and perfection of the rose all the more.

It got me thinking about the verse in 2 Corinthians:
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.’ (2 Cor 4:7)

I find it mind-blowing that God chooses to make His dwelling place in ordinary, broken, weather-beaten people like me.

He doesn’t choose the wise or the strong. He deliberately chooses the lowly and despised things of this world -and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. (1 Cor 1:27-29).

This is such good news! It means we don’t have to attain to a level of perfection in order to come before Him. No! We can come as we are! In fact, His power is made perfect in our weakness! (2 Cor 12:9)

I’m so grateful that God chose a ‘fixer-upper’ like me in order to display the riches of His glorious grace and mercy all the more!