I just finished my second week at the alterations shop. I’m happy, happy in my work.

Most of it is Lee Ann, her good humor and openness – the combination of that with honesty, confidence and skill. She’s made room for me; she’s not intimidated or turned off by my stories or experiences; she listens well, and she shares stories and thoughts of her own. The back-and-forth is easy; it’s like… friends.

I enjoy the work itself too. I enjoy learning how to take something broken or useless, how to take it apart and make a slight change then put it all back together in a way that gives it life again. There’s a redemptive element to it.

There’s a good kind of deconstruction. People don’t bring us their clothes to tear apart and throw away because they hate them, they bring them to us to change the ways the pieces fit together so that the whole becomes useful and beautiful again, of better service to them than before.

Maybe that’s the kind of thing God has been up to, that parts of my life which have broken or aren’t useful any more are being taken apart and changed, and I’m being put back together into something that works, that’s fitting and beautiful for service again.