"Holy Toledo!!" were the words that jumped out of my mouth this morning!! And that was the understatement of the year!! Here's why.
A couple of weeks ago some friends were visiting at our home for a few days. In the course of one of our conversations about the jewelry sales shows they do, I mentioned to EJ about "the only fine piece of jewelry I've ever owned besides my wedding ring" getting lost a few years ago. It had a safety clasp on it to keep it from accidentally coming undone and falling off, but I had noticed on occasion that the clasp went on the wrong side, bypassing it's safety feature. And then one day the necklace was gone. Rod and I looked everywhere. It wasn't to be found.
A similar thing had happened about 12 years ago. We looked and looked to no avail. TWO YEARS later, Rod was digging in the dirt where we sunk our trampoline, and VOILE!! He found my necklace in the dirt!
Now, you have to understand the background to the necklace. About 27 years ago, Rod bought me some pearls. We could not afford them, but he wanted to do something nice for me. The only problem was, he had spent a lot of money for something I wouldn't wear. (I wasn't really in to pearls...) After awhile, I asked if I could return them. (I also didn't understand the importance of graciously accepting a gift!!) He said he didn't mind, so I returned the pearls...however, the store wouldn't refund the money, so I was stuck with a piece of jewelry that I didn't feel was helping us be financially responsible. Over the next couple of days, I looked over the jewelry counter, chose one necklace, then would return it the next day. And that happened a couple of times. I was in tears at the jewelry counter, feeling so "temporal" and also a bit "unworthy." Why would I wear something so fine as any of these necklaces?!?!
And then I spotted something that changed the whole scenario. There, under the glass, was a beautiful gold necklace, with a script letter "H" on it. My heart soared as the thought hit me, "Now THAT I could wear, because it will always honor my husband!" (Since our last name is "Hunt!") And so, I "bought" that very special necklace, and have worn it more days than I have not worn it...that is until it was lost. I was so very disappointed when the necklace was lost a second time. However, with Denzel's death, perspective changes a bit, and the necklace was truly a very temporal thing.
So, I had this not-so-detailed conversation with EJ, and had the thought, "Well, at least Heavenly Father knows where the necklace is."
This morning I was getting cleaned up for the day, and got a little side-tracked getting rid of some of the accumulated bottles of this and that under my cosmetics drawer. There was old bubble bath, extra bottles of polish remover, old lotion, etc. I even had TWO jars of jewelry cleaner...for a woman with one wedding ring and no other "cleanable" jewelry! Sheesh!! So, I went to throw the "emptier" one in the trash, when the thought came into my mind, "Stop..." That was weird!! Why shouldn't I throw the extra cleaner away??? I opened the lid to pour out the liquid, and HOLY TOLEDO!!!!!! There was my long lost necklace!!!! I still can't believe it as I write this story!!
Heavenly Father DID truly know where it was. And I was given the very tender mercy of having this treasured and meaningful, temporal necklace back in my life to honor my husband AND my Heavenly Father. I am extremely grateful!!
