RIPPED!!!!!!

Poor girl!! We need to buy you some new trousers mama said...
No mama, that's what's in vogue now. They are supposed to be that way I said.

You probably can't afford new ones she further said.
Rips are cool mum, its hard to explain. I said.

This was clearly an example of an extreme generation gap, hence the conversation was lost.

Today, ripped jeans are fashionable. In fact, the more ripps, the merrier.

Now they are even labelled destroyed on the tags.
That means they were manufactured to be torn up.

And yes that's identified as cool for most of us. But in my mama's eyes, the reverse is the case.
Instead, its a public declaration of being homeless, an automatic target for pitty and an outward cry of total desperation.

For mama, it didn't matter what I said, she'd never understand.

Life, just like the ripped jeans can be very torn up.

It can seem destroyed sometimes, it can appear to be falling apart, yet it is still put together.

Yes sometimes it can be hard to explain how it can possibly be restored to someone who doesn't understand how the pain could ever make sense.

God created us knowing that we'd be broken and torn.

Originally, we were not manufactured to be that way in the beginning. But when sin entered into the world, so did pain, brokenness, ripps and tears.

Yet God still managed to turn it all into something beautiful through Jesus.

Jesus came to restore the brokenness of the world. Although the world is still torn and full of sin, plus terrible things still happen everyday, Jesus made a way to see it all differently - from a new perspective.

He made it so that God will see his perfection not our destruction.

He made it so that we could be restored and beautiful once again.

Just like a pair of wrecked jeans are still put together to form a nice outfit, so our lives are just walking wrecks still put together, through Jesus, to form beauty.

Jesus read our tags, he knew we were destroyed, but he saw that we were worth buying even at the cost of his own life.

He proved that just because something is broken, doesn't mean it can't be made beautiful.

Even though our lives are ripped up, falling apart, complete messes, Jesus can restore us still, and call us worthy of loving. Worthy of using for a greater purpose.

Without Jesus, we are just a pair of ripped up jeans, with a baggy T-shirt, scruffy socks and a cowboy hat.

With Jesus, we are a pair of ripped jeans, a nice trendy top, perfectly rugged sneakers and sweet shades.

Its a match made in heaven and in the end, its all put together just right.

After all is said and done, a life with Jesus, including the brokenness, the ripps, patches and all will end up beautiful.