Something Beautiful by the Gaithers.
As I listen to the words of this song- and the journey I've been on these last few years of God revealing to me some of the things my Mom dealt with in her life- I can see why she loved this song.My Mom, well, she had a very rough life. Now, some of it was her upbringing. She lived in a very difficult time. Her parents were very poor. And her mother, I believe, could be quite dominating and controlling at times.
Some of it was by the choices she made. By the time Mom was 16 she has already left home and had her first child. The next 14 years + her life was, I would say, a living hell at times.
Around the time she was 30 and met my Dad she already had 5 children. Two marriages in divorce. One child she didn't get to raise.
You could say my Mom, had some issues. And she did. And like all of us, we children learn a lot of the behavior of our parents (good and bad). A lot of my anger, fear and depression came from my Mom. I had no idea how to deal with or control my feelings- except explosively. I learned all this by the time I was 9, which 0-9 are the formative years. The years we are learning and growing how to deal with life. My Mom, she didn't know any better either. How can you teach something you don't know?
But after she met my Dad- and they had me- and they got married- and then had my sister Karen- Dad bought a farm in Ky near both of their parents and we (Mom, Dad and 6 kids) moved to Kentucky. I believe for the first time in my Mom's life she felt safe and settled. But she still had issues with anger- and fear- and depression.
After moving to Kentucky, Mom started attending the church my Dad's parents attended. On a Sunday evening, according to her best friend, Glenda Garrett- Mom and Glenda went to the altar and prayed and received salvation and forgiveness of sins. She placed her faith and her life in Jesus Christ and she received Him.
So I'm sure when she heard this song for the first time, her heart nearly beat out of her chest thinking, "This song, I could have wrote."
My Mom's life was definitely in rags. But, all of our lives are rags. Even if you have had the very best upbringing in life- and you have everything you could ever want. When the end of your life comes- if Someone hasn't exchanged your life for His life- then you will die in your ragged life. Jesus wants to give you Life. He wants to exchange your rags for His righteousness. He wants to give you- Himself. He wants to change you from the inside out.
And when I read the words to this song, I too, thank God for understanding my confusion. For taking all I had to give Him, brokenness and strife-
and making something beautiful of my life.
Something Beautiful by the Gaithers:
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life
If there ever were dreams
That were lofty and noble
They were my dreams at the start
And hope for life's best were the hopes
That I harbor down deep in my heart
But my dreams turned to ashes
And my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss
So I wrapped it all in the rags of life
And laid it at the cross.
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