The Dirty Staircase.

About a year ago, my friend, Sara took me on a photo walk throughout D.C. to capture some images for my blog. For an hour or so, we paraded through the city in search of unique backgrounds and adequate sources of lighting. This mission led us on top of buildings and in the middle of side streets, between gardens and around community homes. Eventually, Sara had me sit in front of a staircase that belonged to a house nearby.

The stairs were pretty unique; not exactly teal in color, not exactly mint, but some hue in-between. It was hard to tell, mostly because the steps were rather dirty, tainted by various streaks of mud.

At first, I was confused.

Why should we take a picture here, I thought to myself, the image will look so messy? After a few shots, I quickly found that Sara had a greater vision in mind. As we walked away, she told me that one of the things that bring her joy in photography is the way each photo allows her to capture a greater story. With this house and staircase, Sara saw more than off-shade coloring or the presence of dirt; she saw a story. With each step, she imagined the families that might live next door, the ways they may sit on the porch after work, even the collection of things they could do in their free time. This staircase communicated something different to her than it did, at first, to me.

Where I saw a mess, Sara saw a story, and shortly after, it dawned on me: God does the same. Where we see imperfection, He sees potential. Where we see “too messy,” He sees something worth being redeemed. He’s been doing this since the beginning of time and does it still today, just as we are promised in Lamentations 3:22-23.

Nothing is too far gone to be used by God or to be captured by God in His tale of redemption. It’s His wonderful demonstration of grace, which we are invited to witness every single day.

My prayer is that we would all learn to live life this way, to see things not solely for what they appear to be, but rather what they could become. So, I ask you, what is begging for your re-imagination today?  Maybe a dirty staircase is a good place to start.

Happy Thursday!
Natalie Brown