Brown Paper Pearl

Jewels and pearls are on my kitchen table. Priceless props that will help us tell children how precious they are to God. I’m eagerly anticipating meeting the children and sharing almost a week together. But that’s in the future. Looking at the precious items on my table is right now, the present. How they and I came to this moment is a twisty-turny kind of thing in which God excels.

Renae, a friend of mine at Keynote, knows I like to scrapbook, so she gave me the flier/coupon advertising a new scrapbooking store that she received in the mail. Not one to turn down anything free (the coupon was good for five free sheets of cardstock) I went to pick out my five sheets and to look around. After quite some time of crafty-stuff overload as I wandered the aisles with a glazed-over stare, I spied the clearance display. Raised by a mama who taught me the joy of finding a bargain, I looked through the bins. At 25% off on the bottom shelf I found papier mache Christmas ornaments in various shapes.

My mind started a stream-of-consciousness side-trip. As I have been interacting with the administrators of the conference in Thailand, it’s become clearer with each email what I will be doing. Each message contains another piece of the puzzle. First I was asked to be the “music person”. Sing with the kids. Sure, I can do that. Then I found out, quite by accident, that there will be a program for the parents… and I’m in charge of it! More details surface—creating the backdrop, figuring out props, putting the songs and scripture verses into a coherent presentation, and probably many other things that I don’t know about yet. J The theme is “Treasures” and the setting is: under the ocean. As I looked at the brown, unfinished ornament in my hand, I saw an oversize pearl gleaming in a giant clam. The faceted ornaments became glittering jewels spilling out of a pirate’s chest.

I read once that Michelangelo saw “David” inside the block of marble before he even picked up his hammer and chisel. While a crude parallel to Michelangelo’s vision-- the jewels and pearls in the plain, brown ornaments, and the lessons that will take place in the children’s hearts that they represent—my thoughts and plans, given by the same God who inspired Michelangelo, are no less important to Him. The ornaments were out of my price range, however, so I left the store still thinking.

A few days later, because I signed up on the scrapbooking store’s email list, I received a notice that all the clearance merchandise had been marked down even further. While the program will happen even if I hadn’t found this loot, I know God set all this up. I could be very introspective and compare the children (and myself!) to the plain, brown ornaments, which I turned into jewels. A valid object lesson. But to me, the more precious idea is realizing how intricately God fit everything together from the timing of the coupon through to my purchasing the ornaments. I know there are situations exceedingly more significant in the world than leading me to props for the children’s program in Thailand. But my God is just as concerned about my little trail as any of the others. That is the jewel for me. My precious brown paper pearl.