As I was watching Cars 2 with my nephew, Mater shares how valuable his dents are. We all have "dents," but are we trying to hide or cover them up?

Last month I shared with you how I flew to Missouri to see my sister. One day as we were running errands, I stayed in the car with Cole and baby Kade (who was sleeping) while Annissa went in to an appointment.

Cole and I pulled out the DVD player and started watching Cars 2. It’s an adorable movie that I’ve seen many times and, if you have kids, I’m sure you have too!

Mater is a tow truck who is working with spies. As they’re fitting him for a disguise, they realize that it won’t fit because of his dents. Holly begins to fix the dents, but Mater pulls away and says:

[pullquote1 quotes=”true” align=”center”]I don’t get them dents buffed, pulled, filled or painted by nobody. They’re way too valuable. I come by each one of them with my best friend, Lightning McQueen. I don’t fix these. I want to remember these dents forever.[/pullquote1]

Wow! What a powerful lesson that we should all take to heart. Each and every one of us has “dents” that we’ve picked up along this journey of life. More than likely our dents haven’t come from fun experiences with our best friends, but from painful situations. If the truth be told, most of us want to hide or cover them up.

What would our lives look like if we accepted our dents and learned how valuable they really are? Sure, they were painful at the time. And I doubt any of us would have gone through those situations or even asked for them. But we have them now, and hopefully we’ve grown or learned valuable lessons from them. Why not use the pain for good?

I’m a firm believer that we don’t walk through difficult situations for no reason. God can (and will) use each and every painful or hard situation for His good. We just have to be willing to see our dents as valuable.

Are you trying to hide or cover up your “dents”? What would your life look like if you realized how valuable they are?

Thrifty T