Engooden Devotional

“ENGOODEN”

A devotional looking at the term Engooden which is changing something bad and turning it into something good or useful.

THOUGHT:

When we try to change a bad situation into a good situation, it is coined “engooden”.  There are several scriptures that pertain to this situation:

We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. —Romans 8:28—

You planned something bad for me, but God produced something good from it, in order to save the lives of many people, just as he’s doing today. –Genesis 50:20—

Come and see God’s deeds; his works for human beings are awesome: –Psalm 66:5—

Everything that has been created by God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected. –1 Timothy 4:4—

Recently I was thinking about the Lenten season that will be upon us very soon. When I was growing up, we were encouraged to “give up” something during Lent. Of course, the implication was that we were to give up on something we loved or was special to us. As a child, I tried one year to claim I was giving up carrots (I hate carrots!) to no avail. Moms are smarter than you think.

Another suggestion is to do something positive to improve yourself or to help others. For example, proactively serve at a homeless shelter or help a neighbor with his lawn work.

Both ways are good and helpful in building our character. Yet, I suggest to you that we may want to think about “combining” the two endeavors. Suppose we take something typically utilized for evil (or represents something bad) and physically use it for good – hence, the word “engooden.” 

For example, if I have written an ugly letter to someone that I feel has wronged, I should take the paper it was written on and make a beautiful origami shape instead. Evil to Good, Ugly to Beautiful. There is a storybook called “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.”  It is about a young girl who was in Japan during WWII and experienced the dropping of the atomic bomb by the US on Hiroshima. About 10 years later, she would die from leukemia due to the aftereffects of the bomb’s power. She and her friends decided to be make a difference in the world. They decided not to allow the war’s detrimental aftereffects hurt them any longer. So, they made a thousand paper cranes, which symbolize success and good fortune. They used old gum wrappers and balled up paper to create the beautiful origami cranes. It was a symbol to the world that they would not let what happened to them, define them. Instead, they used the concept of “engooden” – they took something old and tossed away and changed it into something good and powerful.

Maybe we can do that this year? Write down in words those things we struggle with – our sins or our shortcomings. Then, after praying over them and asking for Gods’ help and forgiveness – learn how to fold them into something beautiful to give to a friend.  Maybe a cross or a flower or something representative of God and goodness instead of sin and evil. We do that with recycling anyway. We utilize an old, used plastic bottle to create something new and purposeful in our lives. I suggest that “engooden” can be a way to recycle our lives during this Lenten season. It is a plan that may help us to not only look introspectively into our spirits and then reach outwards to the world with generosity and uplifting kindness.

Did Christ not do that exact thing for us? Knowing that His Crucifixion would be painful and representative of the evil of men’s hearts, still He changed it into the glorious good of The Resurrection! He took “man’s” unbelief and changed it into faith in eternal life. He used the concept of “engooden” to display Gods’ Power. He transformed a dead body into a Living Eternity.

PRAYER: 

The lyrics to Fanny Crosby’s “Draw Me Nearer” seem to say it all:

1. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
   And it told Thy love to me;
   But I long to rise in the arms of faith
   And be closer drawn to Thee.

• Refrain:
  Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
  To the cross where Thou hast died;
  Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
  To Thy precious, bleeding side.

1. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
   By the pow’r of grace divine;
   Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
   And my will be lost in Thine.
2. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
   That before Thy throne I spend,
   When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
   I commune as friend with friend!
3. There are depths of love that I cannot know
   Till I cross the narrow sea;
   There are heights of joy that I may not reach
   Till I rest in peace with Thee.

AMEN.

Note: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes was originally published in 1977 written by Canadian American author Eleanor Coerr.  The book cover image show above is from Puffin books version published in 1987 with illustration by artist Ronald Himler.