Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English redemen, from Anglo-French redemer, modification of Latin redimere, from re-, red- re- + emere to take, buy;
1 a: to buy back : repurchase b : to get or win back
2 : to free from what distresses or harms: as a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental c : to release from blame or debt : clear d : to free from the consequences of sin
3 : to change for the better : reform
And scrolling down the page of definitions, how about this one? 6 a To make worthwhile.
Recently in our parent grief group we talked about doing an assignment. Take a photo that represents your life right now. Amid many jokes about photographing the now-destroyed I-96 ("The fix on 96" in Grand Rapids--a massive train wreck of reconstruction), I began thinking about what in nature most represents my view of my life right now. Here's what I came up with. And while I didn't actually take a picture, if I had, here's what I would have photographed:
Chrysalis or cocoon, they're pretty yucky-- dark and crunchy or green and slimy looking. Sometime they look more like something a cat left on your doorstep. It's hard to believe that something so amazing and beautiful as a butterfly can come from THAT. So that represents my life right now? Yup. Kinda dark, and it's had more than its share of ugliness. But look at that cocoon--the thing about it is that in the end something beautiful come out of that ugliness. The ugly caterpillar and uglier chrysalis are changed for the better and it's all worthwhile in the end when the butterfly emerges. You see where I'm going with this...I have the steadfast hope that that is exactly what God is doing in my life. Everything that has happened and all the pain, sadness, and struggle will some day be redeemed--bought back and made worthwhile, made into something beautiful just like that butterfly. I don't know when. I don't know how long that will take, or even really what it will look like, but I know it's gonna be because God is THE God of redemption. Our entire history as people is a story of redemption from beginning to present day. Why should this suffering be the exception?
The other day I was looking through Bub's scrapbook. It started as his baby book with his first pictures and his dedication certificate from church. When our pastor does baby dedication he includes on the certificate a life verse and also the spiritual meaning of their names. Would you believe, there on Braeden's certificate, the meaning of his name: Redeemed.
Yeah, really. Kinda gives me chills...
Coincidence? I think not.
**Black Swallowtail photo: mzandilea (photobucket).
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