Repurposing
Do you remember the first time you tried to wrap your mind around double negatives in grade school? Just put a minus sign in front of this negative number, and then, voila! Positive!
“Wait. What? How?,” I would wonder aloud.
Some laws are difficult to understand, but alas, they are. And in this case, the utility of comprehension spans far beyond mathematics.
In an age of cancel culture, we put forth a lot of effort to remove voices that don’t fit what we want to hear. Feeling a kick of motivation, we dig through closets and cabinets finding unwanted items to get rid of. Unto our mental health, we leave toxic relationships. When finances are tight, we look to see what expenses we can cut out. And if in physical pain, oh I know - pain killers!
Everything is delete, delete, delete.
And then avoid, avoid, avoid!
To be sure, if we can nullify a negative, we’ve done well. It’s hard, courageous work to get back to even. But it’s called addition by subtraction for a reason, right? We’re missing out on the part where a negative value flips to a positive value! We’re missing out on the part that makes our jaws drop and our heads spin and we say, “Wait. What? How?”
It’s the awe-striking ability to spin painful experiences into defining gratitude, direction, and hope. It’s the marveling miracle whereby we can deduce via negative relationships positive outcomes. It’s the mind-boggling moment where we revive a monthly expense into a monthly revenue stream. [Seriously: housing, food, child care, shopping, auto, yard maintenance, cleaning, entertainment, pets, travel, finance. You name it!]
Objectively, if you got paid every month for some of these things, wouldn’t that be better than just removing them?
Changing a negative value to a positive one might feel just as impossible for you today as it did in algebra class.
But there are two things I want you to know:
Firstly, it is possible. Our perspective is like a negative sign sitting in our back pocket, ready to be applied to anything and everything subzero we may be facing. Romans 8:28.
Secondly, for this math to work out, you need that negative value. The path to your dreams is probably not a dreamy one, and that’s okay.
Ending something that’s bad is good. Repurposing something bad and making it good?
That’s unbelievable.