Scavenging

Our suburb is having it's kerbside clean-up and it's been a topic of great fascination at our dinner table and in discussions with the kids' friends.

The kids were keen to go scavenging, which is enough to strike fear into the heart of any mother. My children seem to take the 'one man's rubbish is another's treasure' as a mission and bring all sorts of junk home.

After a bit of looking (as much as I could cope with anyway) all we brought home was a tyre to hang in the big jacaranda tree down the back as a swing. I asked the kids to take it down the back and next I see them all down at the back neighbour's fence looking rather guilty. As it turned out they'd decided the quickest way to move the tyre was to roll it down. They did that and then it continued to roll through the fence and into their backyard. All I could do was laugh! Thankfully, no damage was caused to their immaculate house or gardens and the tyre has since been retrieved and tied up into the tree.

Scavenging junk is about seeing the positives in something that's been discarded. Everyday, in my work as a chaplain I encountered kids, mums and dads who feel discarded because they can only see the negatives and don't feel valued. I'm continually amazed how people transform their lives when they start to see their positives and feel success. So while I'm happy we only have these council clean-ups every second year, people-'scavenging' is much more rewarding and can come around as often as it likes.