Saturday, September 20, 2014

Tangles

My Pink earrings and necklace had gone missing. The ring was there but the rest had vanished. I thought it odd that they would not be in the same place but I couldn’t find them, and then we were moving, so might they be gone forever, left behind someplace at the Oakhurst house. I hoped not, but wondered that it might be so.

They were a precious treasure as we had picked them out together on our last Acappella cruise to the Bahamas with a stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They weren’t super expensive but a splurge, a gift from my husband on our cruise shopping. I’d never been big on jewelry and these had a daintiness about them and were pink, my favorite. Those who know I’m a Premier Designs jewelry lady now will find that humorous, but it is the truth.

The good news is I found them, safe in a ziplock bag, inside a purse tucked away for the move, cushioned amongst those types of things that are small and precious and worthy of a safe place. I find us all like that really, as far as God is concerned and how He looks at us and cares for us.

Since I had discovered their location, I did not worry about actually unpacking them until today. I found that they were indeed in the baggie but had become intertwined with some other, less delicate pieces. My instinct was to reach for them directly but with their tangles I knew my action might damage or break them. And so, I removed the other pieces, one by one from the jumble and there at last were my delicate pink necklace and earrings, safe and sound and pristine. Patience prevailed with mission accomplished.

And isn’t it like that sometimes with the tangles of life? We ask God for relief and yet we see Him working on other things, other people, delaying our request for His favor. Until one day we look up and see His hand has been at work on our behalf the whole time, sometimes gently removing from our tangled mess the things that have us pinned down and twisted about. And we are whole, and His.