As I pulled my butterfly cover journal out to write this Sunday morning, I noticed it is beginning to show wear and tear. There is ragged edges at the binding. It is obvious if you look at it that it has been used, open, read, written in and held often. It is well used and worn.

In our culture being worn is not seen as a positive thing. Think about our vehicles, as soon as they start to age – due to use and the normal wear and tear of everyday life, we are quick to trade them in for a newer, shinier, and better-looking vehicle. We don’t want to keep the old worn-out ones. It’s not just our vehicles that fall prey to our vanity. Our cell phones do as well. Well, our technology really. It always has to be the latest, greatest, and most impressive.

We even do this to our bodies. I was looking in the mirror the other day and I realized that I was approaching the age where I was becoming that scripture, youth and beauty is fleeting and fading. I’m getting some gray hairs and wrinkles and gravity is not my friend. Every day there are more aches and reminders that I am aging. I could do what some people do and get plastic surgery thereby trying to restore my body back to what I was when it was younger. Now I’m not going to lie, I do dye my hair, so in some small ways I do this and give into vanity. I’m not ready to be gray yet in my mid-forties. But all of these pursuits in order to get the latest and greatest, all the expenses we incur in this life because worn or aged is perceived as bad is something we deal with often in our society.

The only time age is not perceived negatively is with wine or cheese but otherwise aging is not perceived as a good thing. This got me thinking about how much of our lives we spend hiding what’s worn, whether we do this by getting something new or refurbishing the old one. I began to wonder if worn is truly a bad thing? After all, we don’t have to agree with the world wisdom because oftentimes it’s definitely not in line with God’s wisdom. So, is worn, aged, or maturity bad or undesirable?

For a moment let’s look from another perspective. Is there beauty in worn things, when time and use are apparent? I would argue yes there is. If we stop trying to hide it and instead embrace it. What do I mean by this? It’s simple, change your perspective. When I see laugh lines, I know that someone has smiled, laughed, or had many moments of joy. For myself I got them from times of watching my children grow and the kids can be so amusing. I’ve also gotten them from times that I’ve have beamed with joy from moments of love and peace and things I have shared with others. Times I have laughed with my friends and my family. Every single line on my face was earned in such a great way. How can that be seen as anything but beautiful?

Sure, my journal is worn, but it’s worn because I have written in it so much. Not only that but I have reviewed the things I have written. So, the worn state is due to use. What a great thing! Think of a Bible, do we really want a Bible that is pristine looking, like it’s never been read. God forbid, we need to read it, love it, meditate on it, highlight it, notate in it, and use it actively. A well-worn Bible denotes a life of study and deep connection with God in the same way that laugh lines show a life of joy and happiness. Why would we see these worn states, these used items as negative things. It’s not negative.

Here’s another thought. As lovely as it is that some things are new, they could become even more lovely with use and age because they can become more and hold more value. Think of that couple, married young and enduring and persevering together to eventually celebrate 30, 40, or 50 years of life that they have shared. As lovely as the picture they took on their wedding day might be all those years ago, when they were young carefree, fresh and new,  I would argue that there is an even greater beauty in the picture of them together aged and worn by life. As they look at each other gray hair, bodies a little worse for the wear, wrinkles and laugh lines earned from a life well lived. Yet they are radiating with a beauty that can only be attained through an enduring connection. Earned through time, perseverance, and enduring love. Do you see it, the beauty in them they’re in that mature state? The first picture, it’s beautiful yes, but the picture of them after all those years later is somehow even more stunning.

What beauty do we value? What beauty should we value as believers? I advocate that we should strive to be worn for Jesus. To persevere and endure to the end for Christ. We don’t desire to be a pot made for decor that’s never used, no, we want to be the one that’s used every day. That pan that you always cook with, the one you probably wouldn’t display because it’s not that pretty, but it’s the most valuable of all to you. He is making us not to be displayed but to be used and poured out. It is not the loveliness of the vessel that matters or defines the vessels value. Instead the value it holds is determined by it usefulness. There is something lovely in that, our favorite and most used, often not the most beautiful being the treasured one.  

How beautiful are the feet of them who bring good news. Really dirty feet, worn feet, well-traveled feet, beautiful? Maybe we should admit that we don’t see beauty the same way God does. Beautiful is not perfect or pristine, no it is nail scarred hands that demonstrate how great his love is for us. It is age lined faces that show lives lived well and with joy. It is a well-worn Bible that’s been studied and used to the point of coming apart. It’s his light shining out of our brokenness in our well used vessel. It’s a well-worn journal where I pour out wisdom and love that God daily pours into me.

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Look through his eyes, let your perspective be transformed. It will change your life as you stop running from worn and instead see the beauty in it that God sees. 

Of course, there is another type of worn that is different and I don’t want to over look, this is the state of being worn out. This is someone who’s been beat down.  This is not actually a good thing. It’s not beautiful but the truth is, even in the absolute brokenness God sees value.  He longs to take that worn out, the one overburdened and bring relief and restoration.  He longs to trade the heavy burden with his own light ones. He can transform the worn out and give true healing. Even from ashes he can bring beauty, a beauty that can be seen when you look through his eyes.

Here’s what I want you to think about. Maybe we worry over things that just don’t matter to God and we miss out on things where he really wants us to put our efforts and expend ourselves. Don’t worry about how the world sees something, instead concern yourself only with Christ and how he views it. Be freed from the burden of what the world sees as lovely, and walk instead in his beauty and freedom, in the beauty he’s creating in you. Also, know that if you’re worn out, and you’re in a place of brokenness that he sees you.  That he wants to heal you and make beauty from what you see as ashes. How amazing! What a different perspective he has! And I have got to tell you I’m very thankful because I am a worn thing, but I know when he looks at me, he sees beautiful. Do you know that’s what he sees when he looks at you? If not, I pray today he will give you a new perspective on beauty.

Scriptures: Isaiah 52:7, 1 Sam. 16:7, Isaiah 61:1-3