Glorious Exit

 by Macy Johnson

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

(Isaiah 43:19 NIV)

 

One of my favorite mottos is: “Leave every place better than you found it.” The most challenging projects were hand-me-downs left by people who never even brushed up against my motto. Some prior occupants were even bent on destruction.

 

I’ll never forget our first weekend place on Lake Martin. A co-worker’s husband graciously offered to rent his cinderblock cabin to us. On a hot July day we set out in our pontoon boat to locate the potential family getaway.

 

As we pulled into the slough, we scanned the shoreline for the most appealing structures. Following instructions given over the phone, I directed my husband to a small, dingy dump, hidden back in the shallows. We looked at each other as I hung up the phone. Jeff pleaded, “Please, not this one!” I said, “We can make it work!”

 

And we did make it work. Two weekends later we moved in with our teenagers, all hands on deck. The stench from decayed animal droppings coaxed us to plug away until we made it our own.

 

We loved and enjoyed that cabin for two years until our landlord’s business went bankrupt. We obediently moved on to our second lake place for ten years, then to our current lake home.

 

My motto stood over the years. Each home we inhabited was made better by our residence. In the same way, every relationship is made better because of Christ’s presence in us.

 

We are Christ on earth. He makes everything new and better, in and through us.

 

I will leave a trail of glorious exits by shining God’s pure light in the darkness. I hope you will, too!