Precious Jewels

I have a mother’s ring. Growing up I thought they were the ugliest rings on the planet. I could never understand why anyone would want one. My mother shared my sentiment and essentially forbade us from purchasing one for her. There were 5 kids, with 4 different birth months. I would imagine she was wary of a large ring with significantly clashing stones.

When I was physically done having children I started to consider a mother’s ring. I have 4 children but there are only 2 birth months. I decided, based on this, my ring would not be bad. However, I was determined to make sure my ring was different than the ones I had seen growing up. I did my research. I looked at the different stone options for the correct months, visited jewelry stores to look at the catalogs of options, and evaluated my metal choices. It literally took me 6 months to make a decision. With my decision made, I returned to the jewelry store of choice and ordered my perfect, one-of-a-kind mother’s ring. It is so different I sometimes have to explain that my ring is a mother’s ring and not just a randomly put together piece of jewelry.  

My husband made a big deal out of presenting my ring to me in front of our kids. They each claimed a stone (there were 4) on the ring representing their birth month. To this day, whenever they see me wearing it, they remind me which stone is theirs.

At a slow moment one day I was playing with my ring. I turned it over and over, thinking of my children and how precious they are to me. I considered their sense of pride knowing their mother wore something for the world to see that represented them. They feel a sense of value in the ring. As much as I enjoy their pride in the ring, my goal in life is to assure them that their value to me is much more than a stone on a ring. The well of love for them is deep and bottomless.

It hit me at that moment how precious we are to God, how deep his well of love is for us. Can you imagine the size of a ring to hold all the stones representing our births? I imagine it looks a lot like earth with each person a stone.  

God created us, loves us, and we are so precious to him. We can take pride in that we are his children.We are children he loves without fail. Our value is not wrapped up in actual physical stones, but wrapped up in His love. God sent his son to die for us. There is no greater love.

Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you… Isaiah 44:2

When I feel completely unlovable, worthless, and just plain awful about myself it is hard to remember how much God loves and values me. I am a precious stone in God’s treasure, in His kingdom. My children are the most precious things in my “kingdom.” It goes way beyond a stone I have reserved on a ring. It is on a level that can never be explained or demonstrated to the fullest. God’s love is like that. It surpasses our imagination and/or comprehension. Our hearts and minds are not able to grasp this kind of love. As I said before, he sent his son to die for us. That is an incredible amount of love, far beyond our understanding.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well Psalm 139:14.

It was recently pointed out to me that there are no two people in the world alike and never have been. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. Think about this. I can create a ring representing my children, but I did not create them. Sure, I willingly participated in the actions that created the possibility, but God put them there. He already knew the DNA sequence he wanted to grow inside me. My children were created on purpose, when God was ready for them to be born whether or not I was. He did that for all of us. ALL OF US! We are all his children whether we know him or not. All of us are unique individuals with our own set of DNA, emotions, talents, and even bodies. For the most part we are anatomically the same, but that is just the basics for life.

The thought of all this overwhelms me. God took the time to create me personally. He designed me and is still designing me for his purpose. I have a father who values me more than anything in the world. The moments that I am deeply searching for value, to feel like I matter, all I need to look for is God. The mere thought is enough for me to grab a hold of the rope (or thread) to keep hope going and not give up. I am a gem in his kingdom and heart. I can now look at my mother’s ring and not only see my children but that I am a child of God.

One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:6.