God's Goodness and a Diamond Watch

I like jewelry just as much as as the next white Anglo-Saxon Protestant middle-class suburbia-dwelling wife and mother. I have the requisite dozen or so interesting semi-precious necklaces and bracelets, a couple strings of real pearls, diamond wedding rings and matching earrings, two quality watches that I never wear, gold and silver chains. and a drawful of of costume jewelry accumulated over decades. About average for my peer group.

I wear jewelry everyday...earrings, simple wedding band, gold or silver neck chain...but I don't lust after jewelry. I don't long for it. In fact, I never even think about it. It's rarely on my Christmas or birthday list.

Yesterday, paging idly through a magazine while watching a baseball game, I saw it. A watch, but not just any watch. An elegant, smart watch from Tiffanys, with a tailored black leather band, square "tank-style" gold face, and a bezel surrounding the face with rectangular-cut baguette diamonds. It wasn't cocktail flashy, but it shouted "pricey" all the same. It was gorgeous!

It probably costs tens of thousands of dollars. It would be out of place with my clothes and my life. I don't lust for it, but I admire it. It will never be mine, and that's OK. Even if Ron and I had millions, I doubt we would spend inordinate amounts on jewelry, clothes, cars, mcmansions, etc. (Maybe one great vacation, though.) God has met our needs, and there are millions in this world who have no food, shelter or books. We would give to them as God has given to us.

That's one of the nice things about getting older. We're satisfied. We know who we are. We've learned to differentiate between needs and wants. And we've experienced God's graciousness in all things.

Twenty-five years ago, I would have lusted (and maybe overspent) for that spectacular watch. Today, I admire it as a object of art, and then forget it.

God is good.