Real? Or Not?

What seems like a lifetime ago, Dennis took me out to eat one last time at Olive Garden in good ol' Harlingen. A kind friend had blessed us with a gift card for the restaurant so before Dennis took off for the last time to ready our Tennessee home as much as he could for my grand entrance--I had the dubious blessing of staying behind to pack, not a task I relished but I can't deny the gratitude felt to be left to enjoy a few more days with church and family--we splurged on a last restaurant meal together. On our way back to the car--we had had to park far away in another galaxy, well, the mall parking lot, really, due to the great number of people eating at the restaurant--Dennis bent over, picked something up from the pavement, and offered it to me.

"Here," he said, "a going away gift to remember me by."

I laughed as I took his "gift"--a delicate little ring studded with diamonds. We joked about it probably being from a crackerjack box. I put it on and while he was away it actually did become a point of reference to smile and remember Dennis by.

During that time alone dedicated to packing, I took my treasured jewelry set to be valued by a jeweler. I wrote about what happened in the post entitled, "53 Years … !" I took that opportunity to show him my parking lot find. I was kind of embarrassed to show it to him. I was sure he would laugh and say something like, 'Where did you get this? A crackerjack box?"

He put on his jeweler's loupe and carefully studied Dennis' find. I was floored when he looked up and said, "While I am sorry to say that the diamonds are not real, they are just zirconia imitations, the band is silver of a good quality." With his little loupe he could see numbers not visible to my old eyes that declared that very fact.

Wow! My little ring wasn't just a crackerjack box find--while the jewelry set I had treasured year in and year out was totally worthless! It was hard to wrap that around my little head.

So today I share this with you--sometimes what we treasure in life is worthless; sometimes what we think is worthless isn't. Simply because God deems it so.

I grew up in my grandmother's "holiness" church. Once I had my wonderful God-encounter in my teenage years, this led to some confused thinking. The only people I knew at that time who loved God 110% were "holiness"--they eschewed pants, jewelry, short hair, makeup. So, naturally, I did, too.

Then came some glorious ministry years in Mexico, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

One day there I knelt down to wrestle with God. I had found out that one of my dearest friends in Mexico City who (gasp!) wore jewelry had been sought out by young people needing direction about the ways of God. Let me tell you, I am not proud of it, but I was madder than a wet hen. How dared God let this be! Didn't He see my long hair, my modest clothes, my NO JEWLERY!!!!???? Why hadn't God sent those God seekers to ME? Why wasn't I being used like my friend?

I pulled out my trusty Bible and had it out with God à la Job. He had to tell me why this was. I wasn't budging from my knees till He told me!

So He did.

Ezequiel 16:11-12 leaped out at me. I had read the Bible through--but this was the first time these verses burned themselves into my psyche. It was like I was seeing them for the very first time.

In this passage God is speaking to His people Israel and He tells them, "I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head."

Huh? God put jewelry on His people?

Now, I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I do know that God would not liken Himself to sinful goings-on. He would not use jewelry as an analogy of the beauty He would bestow on His people if it was sinful.

In that same instant, all my holiness balloon was totally deflated. I was not more holy for not wearing jewelry. It did not make me more a vessel fit for the Master's use. Sure, God appreciated that I refrained from jewelry out of love for Him, He looks on the heart and judges according to our intentions, but in itself … it was like my 53 year old jewelry set. Worthless.

Dear Lord, help us to value what YOU value and to walk in the ways that are pleasing to YOU.