Rhinestone Revamp

I love to sparkle! My nickname in high school was glitter girl and I have yet to think to much glitz is a bad thing. I think Liberace's rhinestone piano was cool, okay. I recently purchased a pair of jeans that had little fake diamonds in various places around the waistband. I loved the little eye catching panche the sparkles added to an otherwise ordinary pair of blue jeans. These jeans were very cute, so don't start envisioning infomercial Bedazzler looking denim. I do like to think I have decent taste, but I realize I did just mention I like Liberace's style...so...bear with me please.

After a couple of washes whatever was keeping the rhinestones attached was coming loose and the metal was sticking out in such a way as to catch and rip my clothes. If I sat in a chair I would find myself suddenly velcro'd to it and have to move in such a way as to not damage upholstery, fabric or my skin. (Don't worry mom I didn't do any more destruction to your couch).

After a long annoying day of this I inspected the jeans and noticed that I had lost a diamond on the back of the jeans and that the now empty metal bracket was what was reeking such havoc. At first I attempted to replace the little rhinestone back in the bracket but realized that many of the other ones were loose and that this problem would not be easily solved and would continue to happen. So I grabbed a screw driver and popped off the silver bracket. It surprised me that it came off so easily and I wondered how it had ever stayed on at all. I stood there struggling with what to do next.

I loved the twinkling little sparkles because they were what made the jeans special but if they were going to keep snagging and scratching me they were not worth the pain. So at first I popped off the loose ones, and then I begrudgingly plucked off all of them. Bereft of all the diamonds my jeans now just looked like any ordinary old pair of jeans. But now they were comfortable, now I could wear them fearlessly knowing that I would not be leaving in my wake shirts, jackets, and chairs that were shredded to pieces. I could also wear them much more often without somebody noticing that due to the distinctive diamonds I was particularly partial to that pair of jeans.

To my surprise friends complimented me on them, post plucked, and liked the way the color was distressed or commented on the fit, and other such things I hadn't fully appreciated when I was blinded by the bling. So where might you ask am I going in all of this.

I think sometimes we focus on the wrong things and instead of adding to our lives, they instead take away and hurt and hamper us. Maybe the things about ourselves that make us special that we want to hold onto aren't always what is best for us. For instance the flashy car you really can't afford, highlighted hair, wasting valuable time-- getting your nails done, watching tv, gossiping or obsessing over sports. But there are also bigger and more personal things that are like the pesky dazzlers. And these things might be easier than you think to change...with the Lord's help.

In a Beth Moore Bible study “Breaking Free” it asks you to examine different characteristics you might have received both good and bad from your grandparents and your parents. These are often things we think along the lines of “Well, I got it from them and that's just the way we are in my family, I can't help it.” Be it a bad temper, addiction, inability or overabundance of showing affection, workaholic/lazy, volume control issues, eating issues, fears/phobias, gullibility/skepticism, negativity, and foot in mouth syndrome to name a few.

It's charming that I need to put my foot in my mouth constantly, or all the customers I deal with REALLY are big fat liars so it's not being overly negative or skeptical, right. I used to always say “people never change.” And I came to the conclusion that the only person I can change is me. Because I have been transforming (slowly but surely) I have to revamp my previous declaration that people can't change because if I can change then anybody can!

I think believing you can is the first step and then taking the screwdriver to the issue is the next step. You can't leave the loose rhinestones on there and not expect them to cause the same problems as the first one. You can't stare at the tv and expect your house to be clean and the Lord to meet with you if you aren't even making the time or effort to seek Him out. You have to give some things up with the Lord's help and you will gain other things you hadn't even fathomed existed.

Here are two of my favorite scriptures:
~Isaiah 58:6-14
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild ancient ruins and will raise up the age old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets and Dwellings. ~Isaiah 58:6-14

~Jeremiah 29:14
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:14

Heaven helped me 5/30/08
Love Always,
A*