The next morning as I was boarding the airplane, something small plopped onto the seat as I put my carryon into the overhead bin. It was my earring. Just one.
I was so upset with myself. I love those earrings. I bought them for approximately $3 on the side of the road outside a subway station while I was serving a mission in Korea, but they were still beautiful and had a lot of sentimental value. (Not to mention every time I wore them someone complimented me on them.) And just because I'd been in such a rush, I'd failed to take care of them properly and now one was gone.
Fast forward a month and a half.
This morning I got up, got dressed, and started putting on my makeup. I decided to wear one of my favorite sweaters, one that I usually pair with those earrings. I felt a little pang and told myself (again) how dumb I was. I thought about wearing my freshwater pearl drops but I wasn't really feeling them today. I went over to the little earring cup I keep on my dresser to see if there might be another pair that would work, knowing full well that there wasn't. I thought, though, that I should find the one earring I did have and stare at it morosely for a while. I looked down. Instead of the one white (fake, plastic) pearl that had been greeting me accusingly for the last month and a half, there were two. I blinked. Nope, still two. I picked both of them up and stared at them a little bemused. Still two.
Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, how important was my $3 earring that really only had sentimental value? Not very important at all. And yet, there it was in my hand. I'm sure people could come up with ways to explain this away, most of them involving subconsciousnesses and perhaps forgetfulness, but I know that it was there because God heard a silly prayer about that earring and answered it. It was important to Him because it was important to me; because I'm important to Him. The fact that He did hear and answer that prayer has significance far beyond the intrinsic value of the earring itself. God knows us. He loves us. He wants us to have joy, and He knows the smallest desires of our hearts. He answers prayers. He cares about us, and He demonstrates that care through very small, oftentimes (to us) imperceptible mercies. I know people look at wars and famines and natural disasters and wonder if there is a God, but I look at my earrings nestled next to each other on my dresser and I know that there is.
"In His mercy, the God of heaven, the Creator and Ruler of all things everywhere, had heard a prayer about a very minor thing. One might well ask why He would concern Himself with something so small. I am led to believe that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him, just because He loves us."
- J. Devn Cornish, "The Privilege of Prayer"
Okay, so I'm guessing when you wrote this, you didn't think anyone would cry from reading it. Well, you would be wrong in thinking that because I read it and totally started crying. I'm really glad you wrote this because it's what I needed to hear today. I'm having a hard time finding a job and it's kind of really getting to me. But reading this post made me realize, of course God cares about me getting a job. Of course He will provide for me in the best way He sees fit. Thanks for this. :) P.S. I do love those earrings!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I wasn't anticipating anyone crying while reading my post, but I won't hold it against you. ^_~
DeleteI'm so glad this was helpful. It was helpful to me, too, in more ways than one - which only proves to me that the Lord really does know what He's doing. I believe there's always more than reason for everything the Lord does, even if we don't understand it at the time.