Diamonds in the Dark?

This morning I was sitting in church, listening to the announcements that were made before the sermon began and I glanced down at my hands in my lap.  On my left ring finger was my thin gold wedding band and above it a diamond ring which is composed of one small diamond in the center surrounded by six additional small stones - a diamond cluster. As I moved my hand just a little, the lights in the church sparkled as they were reflected by the gems on the ring.

Have you ever looked at a diamond when the light is dim?  It's rather unremarkable.  Without light to reflect, it may just as well be a piece of glass.  To display its beauty, it must be in full light.  Without the light, its a diamond in the dark, without any loveliness of its own.

In fact, a raw diamond often looks like just any other rock.  It's not until someone recognizes the potential in that stone - seeing what it really is - that it can begin to be transformed into a sparkling piece of jewelry.  It must be cut and shaped by the hand of someone who has mastered this craft.  The diamond must be examined carefully to determine the orientation of its crystals.  Then the gem cutter must consider any flaws in the stone to decide how it should be cut to remove them.  Facets are cut into the gem to help it reflect as much light as possible. It is then polished to a high luster and placed in a setting that displays it in a way that emphasizes its beauty.

A diamond is a lot like a person.  We may look insignificant and common, but God sees us for what we really are. He sees the potential for beauty in us when nobody else does.  Unlike the diamond cutter, God already knows us inside and out and He knows how we are designed and is acquainted with all of our flaws.  Armed with that knowledge, through the Holy Spirit, He begins the process of shaping us, removing the flaws, and designing the facets of our lives so we can reflect as much of His light as possible.

We have two responsibilities in this process.  The first one is to submit to the Holy Spirit to let Him do His work in our lives.  The second is to stay close enough to His light that we can be a reflection of Jesus in this world.  If we spend our time in the darkness, there is no light to reflect.

The ring that caused all these comparisons in my mind today is not really an engagement ring. When my husband and I were engaged, neither of us had much money. I was content to marry him using the wedding rings that my mother and father had worn throughout their marriage.  Both my parents had already made heaven their home years before my wedding.  We engraved our initials and wedding date beside theirs and prayed that our union would be as solid as theirs had been.

One day months later,  after a church service, a woman came up to me and said, "God told me to give you this" and she put this very ring in my hand, closed my fingers around it and walked away.  When I looked at it, I was astonished to find that the gold band on which the setting was mounted was an exact match in width to the wedding band that I wore, making a perfect set.

That summer, I distinctly remember being at my grandmother's farm, walking around in the beautiful sunshine of a country afternoon and looking down to see the sunshine reflecting from that ring.  I asked God then why He gave this to me and I heard in my heart so clearly, "I just wanted you to know how precious you are to Me."

Each of us is a precious, unique jewel to our God.  If we continue in Him, it's amazing to think what He can create in us and how much His light can shine to others as we reflect His amazing love.