This is year nine of daily gratitude. Every once in a while an item still surprises me... because I have overlooked the obvious. Ten months into year nine and I can't believe I have never chosen to give thanks for the ordinary hanger.
Yes, I am grateful for hangers. I use hangers every day to hang clothes in my closet. They are how we hang most of my laundry to dry. I have a special hanger contraption that looks like an octopus. I use it for delicate items. It came from IKEA and I love it! It handles many items with ease in a small space. I have hangers with clips and some that are extra thick. Each has a purpose.
My favorite hangers are my crocheted ones made by my Grandma Marge so many years ago. I think I only have one left, but I still use it faithfully for items like sweaters and slippery, delicate things. I smile and think of her whenever I use them. I don't know if I truly appreciated them when she gave them to me as a teen, but now they are a simple treasure. Padded hangers are always in demand and often in short supply.
I often grab for the newer velvety hangers designed to keep items from slipping off. It keeps my chiffon tops, travel knit items and delectates from slipping to the closet floor. A person should truly appreciate a good hanger.
Hanging our clothing helps keep items nice and pressed for wearing. Hangers keep things tidy and easy to find. Without hangers, our closets would be a mess. Even before closets were built into many homes, a wardrobe was a popular bedroom item for hanging their best clothing items. It had a rod inside for hanging.
More than two thousand years ago the most precious gift hung from a tree and not a hanger. A wooden cross was used to hang the Son of God, so our sin debt could be paid in full and our lives restored and preserved. He was clothed in our transgressions, deceptions and failures. He wore little else. The weight of it all was surely unbearable, but he did not call ten thousand angels to rescue him. He stayed there until it was finished. It really is quite humbling, isn't it? The wonder of that kind of love still amazes me.
"They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear" -Act 10:39-40
Just as our clothing waits on the hanger to be worn, our Jesus, who died for us, waits for us to believe and receive the gift of new life. His gift is much more important than anything in our closets. His "hanger", an item of death, has become a symbol of forgiveness, redemption and hope.
Only a Great God can make a way through the darkness and into the light. His ways are not our ways. His ways are perfect.
Today, I am grateful for hangers.
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