“Where Have I Seen You Before?” (09/28/2026)

Yesterday morning, as I sipped my coffee and opened my day with the LORD, I opened the cover of a new journal. I’d filled my previous journal the day before, so I’d packed it away with my others, and pulled out a new one (Yes, I have a supply on hand). I opened the cover thinking it would reveal a blank page, but instead, it had a sentence in bold: “Where have I seen you before?”

Turns out, my journal that I’d purchased because it was covered with bees, is made totally of recycled paper. It states, “I’ve been your cereal box, tea package, milk carton, newspaper, junk mail, discarded novel, pizza box and magazine.” It is made by a company named ecojot. I like that my journal is totally recycled paper. I love the idea that the pages I’m filling have been repurposed. And before I knew it, I was on a journey in time with my sister, Betty, who was the queen of re-purposing. She called it “rescuing.” She’d find something another discarded, and she’s rescue it from a resale shop, take it home, and re-employ it or alter it a bit into something else.

And then before I knew what was happening, my thoughts shifted again to myself. I’m a bit of a rescue project myself. At 76, I can’t be the youth leader or faith formation director of young children any longer. I physically can’t do the work. But the LORD has found a way to rescue me and repurpose me. Today, I am a retired seminary professor who leads parish scripture study, who works with youth preparing for Confirmation, and who helps the parish reach out to families grieving by supplying a meal on the day of a funeral. And I write. It’s me, you may have seen me in other roles, but this is me today. God isn’t done with me on this side of the sod yet. And I’ve found that if I open myself to the LORD and His will for me, He redirects me to another role.

It makes me think also of the Book of Ecclesiastes that we’d been reading last week in our daily readings. “There is a time for ever purpose under heaven.” He who created time calls us to use it with purpose but also to an openness to His will because our purpose may change with time, with age, with needs around us. We aren’t called to be “Been there, done that, I’m done!” kind of people. As long as we’re this side of the sod, the LORD has a purpose for us and we are called to prayerfully discern it. We are the LORD’s children, each of us created in love with purpose. And we can only truly recognize it and utilize it if we allow the LORD to guide us and grace us.

Let us journey in faith, buoyed by hope, and fueled by a love that allows us to open ourselves to the LORD’s divine design that has a place and a purpose for us. And let us be open to shifts, cycles, and changes that come with life here on earth. Let us be open to the LORD calling us to set down one role and pick up another when His need and our situation call for a recycle, a repurpose, a conversion. Let us have confidence in Him in whom we live and move and have our being. He has a way!

And let us not be surprised if down the road a bit, in a new arena or service, we hear someone ask, “Where have I seen you before?” It happens.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.