From a Diamond to a Pearl and a 40-cent coupon

. 

October. A fall morning. And I was in my kitchen before six o’clock preparing space on the counter to roll out fried pie dough.

Usually there are various kinds of randomly placed items to get out of the way…pens, note pad, sticky notes, the bread box.  In the process there was an overlooked coupon that I had not placed in my billfold. I picked that up, checked the expiration date which was still good. So got the billfold out, and before placing the coupon behind the couple of bills there, I checked to see if there were coins I needed to put in the zipper compartment. There were several, so I lifted out the bills and the coupons already there and out rolled a sparkling, small diamond and I was awestruck. I spent the next fifteen minutes in heartfelt worship, not of that diamond!  But the experience---it’s hard to put into words-----but I will try. I have a ring that I had a jeweler design for me that is fashioned from three gold rings that hubby bought me over the last fifty-five years. And that included my original wedding band. They were wearing thin, and one had lost the tiny diamond because the setting had broken, so I put it away.  And a few years later, my Christmas gift was a diamond engagement ring to replace the previous one. I enjoyed wearing that for many years and, well, the setting was damaged, so I put that one that still had the diamond, (not a large one mind you) away also. I decided to gather my broken pieces and have them melted into a new ring and that allows me to keep wearing every ring hubby bought for me. When I had them melted together, I had the jeweler set that diamond on the top of the new ring. Eventually the setting wore down and I didn’t realize it. One late summer day, I was outside working in the flower beds and containers, in the dirt and in the weeds.  I happened to notice that the diamond was missing and thought, “oh no, not again!”  Well, I thought to myself, I refuse to let that bother me although I made a mental note to keep my eyes open, “just in case.”   I went on my way. I decided to take that ring and have the jeweler repair it where the diamond had been because, after 56 years, I wanted to continue wearing my wedding band. And simply forgot about the incident. As I pen this story, it has now been 61 years for wearing my ring.

Fast forward the story three months to a very early start to my day. When that diamond rolled out of the zippered change compartment, it rendered me speechless.

I received a glaring, heart stirring lesson that day as I thought of the actual value of the diamond compared to the value of the coupon.

Sometimes we can become so engulfed in thought over something that has no eternal value; whether a diamond or a 40-cent coupon. But the Spirit conveys a message of the importance of seeking what has eternal value rather than temporal And, if I relinquish concerns about which I can do nothing, the underlying message shows me the true value. 

In conclusion, sometimes we will cling to things that have much lesser value than the gifts our Heavenly Father wants to present to us.  That morning, I found the Pearl of great price. Matthew 13:45-46

Feel free to comment