Years ago when my husband Louis was launching a new business, I desperately - no, DESPERATELY - wanted to stay at home with our pre-schoolers and be June Cleaver in real time. After teaching school for five years and pouring myself into other people's children, I was thrilled when God finally made a way for me to stay home for one year. My husband and I sold our house to get out of debt, bought a seventeen year old mobile home, and I became "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer*." We were dirt poor as we say in the South, but I was perfectly happy.
When December rolled around, Louis and I both knew it was going to be an Underwear Christmas- you know, the kind of Christmas when you buy each other underwear and other necessities, wrap them up in beautiful Christmas paper, and swear up and down that it was "just exactly" what you wanted. But God, with His perfectly generous heart, had other ideas.
One Thursday night in December we met Louis's mom at our usual restaurant so she could dote on her grandchildren. Between courses Mrs. Bea reached into her purse and pulled out a velvet jewelry box. "Somebody sent this to me in the mail, and I thought I'd give it to you, Sugar." I opened the box, and there was a beautiful diamond and sapphire bracelet that matched the ring my husband had given me the year before.
"Somebody" sent it in the mail? Who does that sort of thing? The letter accompanying the bracelet said something about appreciating my mother-in-law's generous donations in the past. I was flabbergasted. It was an Underwear Christmas that year, except for my beautiful birthstone bracelet. God loves to love us. A few years later I discovered that a young couple in our church was having an Underwear Christmas, so I dug to the back of my jewelry box, retrieved the bracelet, and gave it to the husband for his wife's Christmas present. Our little secret. I would occasionally think about the bracelet and wonder if it had given Tiffany as much joy as it had given me when I received it and when I gave it away.
Several years later when my friend and I were visiting at the local coffee shop, she excused herself to go get something. As she returned from her car, I spotted a velvet jewelry box in her hand and somehow knew what it was. Sure enough, there was the birthstone bracelet that symbolized for me the simple joys of a loving family and surprise kisses from my Heavenly Father. Tiffany smiled. "Since so much in my life has changed, I felt like I was supposed to give this back to you." Emotion washed over me. It was like a tangible kiss from my Father. Poor as Job's turkey. Happy. God loves to love us.
God's Kingdom is so much like my bracelet - surprises from nowhere whispered in a language we will often miss if we aren't paying attention. I hadn't picked out the bracelet or pined over it for months. It had come as an unexpected, personal treasure both times. Perfect.
Louis commented once that he wished he had been able to give me that bracelet. And he did. When I became his wife, he gave me his mom and all her love. In the same way, when we became part of the Bride of Christ, God gave us secret treasures of the Kingdom. Perfect. God loves to love us.
At this point in my life, the bracelet symbolizes so much more than just an Underwear Christmas. Our daughter is now seventeen and entering her senior year of high school. I look at the bracelet and remember playing Beauty Shop with her in our trailer. (I was always gorgeous with my hair stuck up in that eclectic array of plastic barrettes!) I hold the bracelet close to my heart, close my eyes, and think of my husband's love that has grown even sweeter since "The Poor Years." Simple joys. Deep love. I put the bracelet on my wrist and admire it. The diamonds and sapphires remind me how precious I am to the Father and how good He is at speaking my love language. Kingdom revelation: God loves to love us.
* Country song by Sammy Kershaw
