“Bling Bling” from Jesus

“You are a magpie,” my cousin said one day, as we were walking through the downtown flea markets in Helsinki. “They gravitate to sparkly things, and so do you.”

What can I say, it’s true. If it sparkles, I am mesmerized. I even became a rep for a sterling silver company just so I could get bling for a good price, and drool over catalogues. I tried to get my hands on as many pieces as I could, but the pricier ones still were unattainable. Oh well, maybe someday.

As we were getting ready to move to Tanzania I felt that I needed to sell all of my silver jewelry. I knew that it would sell well, and the money that it brought would cover the cost of a plane ticket or two. It wasn’t a sacrifice, after all this was a new adventure, following our call was exciting. Plus, having bling in Africa would just make me a target of thieves.

So, it all went, with maybe a few pieces remaining. It was all good. It was just frivolous jewelry, right?

For a few years I didn’t even give it much thought. I still checked out all the bling in Tanzania, and happily picked up a few pieces made out of cow bone. Can’t take the magpie out of the girl.

This last April, as we were preparing to come back to Canada for our summer furlough, I started missing my jewelry. (I know it sounds shallow, but it couldn’t be helped! :)) There was a particular necklace that I had always wanted, but couldn’t afford. I scanned eBay a few times, seeing if it could be found for a fraction of the cost. I wasn’t planning on buying it, just wanted to drool over it some more. I’d see it online, give myself permission to dream, and then move on.

In the summer my mother and I went on a little trip to Minneapolis. I had a friend there who I wanted to see, and the shopping is much better than what we have available here in Thunder Bay. My favorite stores tend to be thrift stores and craft stores. Wonder why? In one used clothing store I found a necklace that looked quite similar to the one I had been drooling over. Yay!! Jesus heard my sighing and helped me find one that I could afford. I was so excited!

I wore it to church the following Sunday. Who cares if the clasp in the back pinched my skin, I wasn’t going to complain about a gift from God! A friend walked up to me and said she had noticed my necklace….and it reminded her of the one she had at her house. (She had also been a rep for the same jewelry company.) “I have been staring at this necklace and wondering what I should do with it,” she said, “I have only worn it a couple of times, and I kept feeling that it belongs to someone else. Jesus told me to wait, and He will tell me who to give it to…and today He told me that the person who needs this necklace is you!”

What????

Jesus wanted me to have that particular necklace? The one I had been dreaming over for the last 4 years? Wasn’t this cheap one good enough? Why does He care? It’s just bling!! How is it possible that He would care about something so frivolous when the world seems to be falling apart?

It’s because He cares for me. I am important to Him…and He wanted me to know that my prayers and sighs had been heard.

I wear this necklace every day now; at home in my sweats, and at church with my heels. I wear it to remind myself that He always hears my prayers, and sees the desires of my heart. He has shown me that I can trust Him in the little things as well as the big. Nothing is impossible.

No one is ignored. Our needs are being heard, and our cries for attention. He is there, beside us, all of the time. We just spend so much time trying to get by on our own, that we don’t give Him a chance to show up and love us. What would it take for us to just learn to trust? Are we looking for the big gestures, and ignoring the small ones? Do we really even notice the small ones? Maybe it’s just someone giving us a smile, or finding that perfect parking spot….or maybe finding those dream boots for a few bucks on sale? How do we really know what Jesus is doing around us all of the time? Do we give Him the glory over the little things?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV)