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What to do with bits of string

We are expert at extraction, making 
something out of something else;
a cat’s cradle for the kids. A rag rug.
A torn loaf for Eucharist, or turkey stuffing.
We take traces of a fractured dream 
and fashion a plot for a new novel. 
Old tires make for resilient highways.
My friend rips out worn sweaters 
for new scarves. Women in Africa 
roll old magazine pages into beads,
varnishing them for sale in other worlds,
jewels from junk. I rescue river stones
and beach shells for ornaments
along my window sill. They cost nothing. 

Try it yourself. See what lovely new thing 
God can make from what is common
and discarded. Including your own life.
Call it recycling. Call it renewal 
and you’re getting at the heart of it. 

— Luci Shaw