My grandmother passed away several years ago at the age of 103. Josephine Burt Oxford lived during the Great Depression, and she never forgot the lessons that she learned from it. Hard lessons.
One important lesson that she learned was to never waste anything. Here is an example. She would save the little pieces of soap from an almost used-up bar of soap. Then she would sow them together in a small porous bag so they could continue to be used. In this way, the small pieces of soap would not go to waste.
After all these years, I still remember that small bag containing pieces of soap.
The Bible affirms, “For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form one body, so it is with Christ.” (I Corinthians 12:12)
God has a way of doing that. God can take those of us who feel small and broken . . . and bind us together in such a way that we are strengthened and can be used by God to help and encourage others.
A wonderful hymn has the words: “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken.”
I am so thankful today for the grace of God, and for a wonderful grandmother who inspired me in so many ways.