A couple of weekends ago we traveled up north to our old stomping grounds of Hibbing, MN. As soon as we turned onto Hwy. 53 a receiving line of pine trees appeared and welcomed us, gently guiding us north toward our destination.  If there is a stretch of road that holds more memories for my husband & I than this, I am unaware of it. The 30 plus mile stretch would tell stories of two young kids heading off to their first ministry position together, it would tell of trips to Duluth for the sole purpose of a single cup of Starbuck’s coffee & it would smile and sigh as it recounted it all, fond memories of days gone by.

I had forgotten about the air up north, how when you breath you take in the heavy scent of pine.  I had forgotten how the shades of green from the pines and poplars mix together to form a brilliant new color. Somehow I had forgotten about the golden glow that covers it all as the evening sun sets.  I forgot how dark it gets up there, the sky turning ten shades darker than any night sky back home.  The thick blanket of darkness overhead becoming the perfect backdrop to offset the tiny glowing lights of the Big Dipper and the rest of the constellations.

When gazing at the night sky that weekend I felt smaller but somehow no less significant.  As if the twinkling lights that dotted the darkness pointed to my, to our, innate worth. They hung there suspended above as a reminder that we all have our own unique light to add. And when we do, it only enhances the overall beauty. 

And while I spent the weekend taking in all the raw beauty that nature was extending to me, I  was surprised to discover some of the most spectacular sights nestled into a rather odd place: an old mine dump.

Let me explain.

Hibbing is part of a group of towns in northern Minnesota referred to as the Iron Range.  The town essentially exists because of the iron ore mines located there.  We loaded the kids up in the car and made a stop at the Hull Rust Mine on the outskirts of town, a place where when you first pull up you could almost mistake it for a scenic overlook somewhere out west.  It’s a huge pit that encompasses miles and miles of iron ore and the enormous trucks needed to transport it.  The crew works different areas at a time, mining for the iron ore. Once they have gotten all of the ore from the ground, the leftovers, called tailings, are loaded into one of the huge trucks and then dumped in a designated location. There are enormous mountains of these tailings. Piles and piles of this rusty red colored rock, stacked high and wide.

And as I stood there staring out at the tailings, I couldn’t help but make a connection between those jagged red stones and my own life. Basically the tailings are the leftovers, the residue. My mistakes, disappointments and failures taking on the shape of a pile of rusty colored rocks. Sometimes it’s hard not to look at those piles and think “What a waste.” The tailings, like my own pile of regret, lay there taking up space. All of the valuable fractions of the stone have already been extracted, this is in essence a pile of leftovers.  It’s hard sometimes to not look at our tailings and wish them away.  It’s easy to think they don’t have anything to add anymore.  But I have to tell you, as I  stood at that pit and took it all in, I realized the tailings only enhanced the beauty.  They added a certain color and form to the landscape that made it all the more impressive.

Often times, the broken, ragged pieces of our lives add the depth and dimension to our picture that the smooth & painless times never could. 

When we give God our mistakes, disappointments & failures we can learn to walk through those tough times with humility and a willingness to learn.  We can learn to narrow our focus on what God wants to teach us through it.  We can come through the other side with a sense of gratefulness for the growth instead of a sense of bitterness from the blow. And when we learn to do that, we can look at our pile with a new perspective and find that grace has painted those those red rocks into our landscape and sometimes, the breathtaking detail of those broken and jagged pieces can become some of the most exquisite points on our canvas.

Today, if you’re going through something hard or you’re dwelling on a past mistake or hurt, allow God to show you a detail about it that you might be missing. Allow Him to use all of your experiences, tailings included, to paint a picture that only He can.  Trust his hand, his heart & his timing for your life.  And know that “He has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11