Tim Clark’s Blog

Last week I took my family to see the movie Toy Story 3. The kids (9, 7 and 3) loved it! My wife loved it, and it made her cry. I loved it and was grateful for the long credit sequence after the movie which gave me time to pull it together and wipe the tears away. In short, the Clark family gave the movie “two thumbs up”.

In the film one of the toy characters tells the other toys that they are nothing but a bunch of plastic and garbage destined to be thrown away. The toy believes this about the others because he believes it about himself. And he displays no value for anyone else, because, we discover, he feels totally valueless because of past pain and rejection.

Now switch gears with me: A few years ago the school I worked for was getting rid of an ugly, out-of-date, too-heavy furniture set that had regretfully been painted over with black lacker. It had been found abandoned in a basement of a downtown building that belongs to our denomination. Once it got to the College, it was evident that it wasn’t going to serve the purpose it was brought over for…so it was going to be tossed.

But it just so happened that I needed a desk. And my very handy, retired, and imaginative dad saw it and suggested it for my office. He said that he and my uncle (both amazing craftsmen) could work on it and make it look really nice. I was scared. I believed with everyone else that this thing was way beyond redemption, but I finally agreed to let Dad do it with the agreement that if it didn’t turn out, I didn’t have to use it (and an agreement with the College that if it did turn out, I could keep it after I left since it was going to be trashed anyways).

Three months later, my dad and uncle brought in one of the coolest and most gorgeous old-school, solid wood, leather top, desk, file cabinet and credenza I had ever seen. Now they are sitting in my study at home. Every day I’m blown away by the beauty and artistry of this stuff. And I intend to use it for the rest of my life as a reminder that what most people think is worthy only of discarding can be wonderfully used if the right artist gets their hands on it and restores it.

Now back to Toy Story 3. The toys were in peril because another toy was convinced none of them had value. We often treat others poorly because we ca’t see our own value. We look at ourselves and others and consider that our lives are unusable and fit only for the junkyard.

But that is not how the Savior sees us. He not only saves us from being delivered to destruction, but He painstakingly takes whatever time necessary to restore the true beauty that He created us with and knows is there. None of us is beyond redemption and restoration. That should influence the way we see ourselves and should impact the way we see others, too.