The Little Penny

Walking across the parking lot tonight I saw a spot on the dark asphalt. It looked like a coin so I bent down and picked it up. My first thought was that it might be rare and important. But it turned out to just be a common copper penny, tarnished and damaged from being run-over too much. You could barely see Lincolns face imprinted on the one side. It was useless.  I quickly saw how it reflected my life in such a way. I felt tarnish, ran-over and useless. Cast away onto the dark asphalt of life.  
I will keep this coin that is useless to the world and keep it in my pocket to remind me how the Lord had picked me up from my uselessness and saved me and making me precious to Himself.  As I carried the little coin and stuck my hand in my pocket and felt its rough edges, I would rub it and thank the Lord for what He had done in my life. Then I noticed something strange. The little coin’s rough edges were becoming smooth from my rubbing.
I saw quickly how the hard times I was going through was the Lord rubbing me to a copper shine. The way the coin was made. The way I was made. All this time I thought the Lord’s hand was rubbing me too hard and hurting me, but He was rubbing me lovingly to make me valuable to Himself. He is making me new again.