New From Old--A Father's Day Post

Our family has been recycle-minded from way back. I was recently telling an acquaintance that my mom dragged us kids and our family's recyclables down to the city back in the 70s WAY before recycling was mainstream. People on both sides of our families were known for "making do or doing without." Part of that stems from them living through the Great Depression (or having parents who did). Some comes from our extremely frugal ethnic heritage.

And some comes from the reality that it costs a lot of money to farm. Making do with older equipment and do-it-yourself repair jobs helps keep the expense side of the ledger a little more in balance with the income side. A side effect of frugality is that it keeps stuff out of the landfills.

These are two shovels that have seen better days. One shovel head was worn out with much use in the composting process on our farm. The other shovel--the one with a broken handle--was rescued from a dumpster.

There is no time right now for little fix-it jobs like taking apart two broken shovels and making one good one. Fortunately for us, we have two handy dads with a little bit of extra time for odd jobs. This particular fix-it job, making one good shovel from two no-good ones, was done by The Farmer's father. But we appreciate both our fathers, as well as our Heavenly Father, who makes new from old...

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" --2 Corinthians 5:17

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