Good morning…
At Goodwill, pre-pandemic, I was drawn to the ugliest necklace I have ever seen. Gaudy and overcrowded. Heavy and weighed down. Haphazardly strung together and hanging on by a thread. As I picked up the necklace, examining the creation more closely, I admired the individual stones. Natural, God-made gems. Each gemstone was unique, size, shape, and color. If they did not need to compete on the same crowded strand, might these special gems breathe into their own beauty?
I thought to myself, “If given space, solitude, and creative loving care, I bet these individual stones might make great pieces of jewelry.” So, I dished out the $5.35 to bring her home…and…my funky choice got lost on the island of Sue’s misfit finds.
Then the pandemic hit, and I knew gift giving would be decidedly different this holiday season. Sometime this fall, I remembered the ugly necklace lying silently somewhere. I searched for and found her, I packed her up, and I took her with me to the North Caroline home of our SueToYou.com website designer. Gina MacFarland and I spent four days trying to streamline our website costs so that your gracious gratitude gifts would more effectively cover the ongoing expense of our written word ministry. On the final day of our working visit, I pulled out my ugly necklace and said, “Gina, you make jewelry. Is there any way you can salvage these natural stones and make them into individual jewelry pieces? I think new, one-of-a-kind necklaces made from this eyesore might make unique Christmas gifts.”
Together we cut the old thing apart, and we looked more closely at the beauty of each separate stone. She pulled out other gemstone beads from her own collection, and we played for a few hours, connecting each stone to beads which would enhance its unique shape, colors, and texture.
Look what arrived in my mailbox this week! A plethora of pretty necklaces created by Gina. She researched each natural stone and tagged each necklace, identifying the special name of each gemstone restrung. The Spirit of God expanded the fun project, nudging my soul, “Share these new creations with twenty of the women who have walked most closely beside you during this crazy COVID year.”
So during the gift exchange dinner in our dear friend’s garage (see yesterday’s post Give Heartfelt Gifts), along with the cozy hat and scarf set, the homemade soup, and half of the communion loaf, I gave each of my two closest friends a chance to choose from the new stash of necklaces. We had fun admiring them all, and by the end of our playful exchange, each friend donned the one necklace whispering, “I am yours.”
Might this tangible transformation be a symbol for us? Before COVID came, I wonder if many of our lives were much like the old ugly necklace. Gaudy and overcrowded. Heavy and weighed down. Haphazardly strung together and hanging on by a thread. Hasn’t the Coronavirus forced us to look closely at the separate elements of our everyday lives, admiring separately the people, the passions, the potential? When we get to the other side of this worldwide pandemic, I wonder if we will give more space and more time to the sacred, God-given gems whispering, “I am yours.”
And Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened — I’m the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now (Luke 1:46-55, MSG).
…Sue…
