Things of Value Sparkle

Have you ever done something logical to avoid one problem, and ended creating another problem? Perhaps the second problem was more complicated than the original you were trying to avoid?

Neither have I. *ahem*

Yesterday was a low-key day. Church in the morning (love my church fam!) and then home for the rest of the day.

It was such a relaxing day that I didn’t even start thinking about dinner until 6:30PM. I grilled some burgers, and put out the salads we’d had for lunch. I was going to cut up a watermelon and decided to avoid sticky juice all over my kitchen, I would cut it outside on the deck. And to avoid sticky juice under my wedding rings, I would take them off.

Great. Plan.

I was executing the plan to perfection, until I was done. I had cleaned up and washed my hands, and was ready to put my rings back on. However, when I picked them up, my wedding band slipped out of my grasp, bounced on the deck a few times, and promptly fell between the slats into the abyss below, just like in the cartoon I watched as a kid.

Excuse me, what?

I honestly gasped as I watched it, and then stood there dumbfounded. Like, what was I supposed to do now?

When I told my husband what happened, and he saw just my engagement ring on my finger he said “Congratulations on your engagement!” to which I replied “Thank you- you don’t know him.”

Because we’re funny and cute like that.

I asked if he would help me remove the lattice around the deck in that spot so I could fish it out. And he did not want to. He was TIRED. After I had mowed the front yard (I volunteered to help him out today so he could rest. He’d just had a long trip the day before. ), the self-propelled bit of the mower died. So when he mowed the back yard, he had to PUSH it the whole time. And the trimmer had given him fits. He was WORN. SLAP. OUT.

Now, I could have removed the screws in the lattice myself. I’m pretty handy. But sometimes it’s nice to ask for help just to remind yourself that you need people. Even if it annoys your husband because at the moment he doesn’t want to be needed, for pity’s sake. He just wants to sit down for a minute and breathe, *thankyouverymuch*.

But he got up and grabbed the drill and helped me. When I looked at the space under the porch I actually went inside to look for a tarp or something so I wouldn’t get all filthy lying on the ground. I couldn’t find one, so I grabbed the squeegee we keep on the deck, and hoped I could use that to drag it out.

That is, assuming I could even find it without crawling under there. I may have shuddered at the thought, and possibly asked my youngest child if she was up for an adventure. To which she promptly replied that she did not want to crawl under the deck thankyouverymuch.

How does news travel so fast in this house?

Well, my hubby asked where it had fallen, and he walked to the spot on the deck where I remembered seeing it slip away. So I shined the light from my phone into the abyss, and what do you know? That ring sparkled at me like it was showing off in the sun. I couldn’t believe how bright it looked, especially compared to its surroundings.

I was able to work the squeegee into place, and by simply sliding it forward, pulled my ring back into the light! Hooray! It looked gross, and it was covered in nasty, but it was back!

And you know what?

The thought crossed my mind that shiny things of value will sparkle, no matter where they are. Even under a deck covered in mud.

If you have ever dropped something important between the cracks, and feel like it’s in the abyss, can I recommend that you shine light on it? If it is of value it will sparkle, and you’ll be able to rescue it and bring it back to the light again.

Whatever God is in (your marriage, your faith, your children, a friendship) that you think has been lost forever, may not be. God can make things of value sparkle in the darkest of places. When we ask others for help and are willing to do the dirty work (that sometimes requires more than a long-handled squeegee), God can help us rescue those precious things back into the light.

Don’t lose hope. Whatever has been lost, bring it to the Father. He knows exactly where it is, and how it can be rescued.

Act 2:26-28  
(26) Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
(27) Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
(29) Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Lamentations 3:55  
(55) I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
(56) Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
(57) Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
(58) O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

Mat 18:11-14  
(11) For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
(12) How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
(13) And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
(14) Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.