Precious

When we lived on St. Simons Island, GA, Paige and I had some friends, a clergy couple, Harriet and David. They were what the Islanders called “Snow Birds;” people who lived up north in Summer, and down on the Georgia Coast in winter; Once, while visiting them, Paige saw their Russian table china; beautiful blue and white place settings. Their son, based in Moscow, Russia, had sent this set to them.Paige was entranced.

When my fact-finding trip to Russia, with the General Board of Global Ministries (UMC) came up, Paige beseeched me to find a set of china like Harriett’s while in Moscow. With great blessings, fortune, luck, or perseverance,—and our wonderful translator/guide—I found an identical set. The vendor carefully packed—in a cardboard box—each piece; I very gingerly lugged that box from point-to-point-and- airports, across Eastern Europe, including Estonia;I was afraid that if I opened it, I would release the magic of that carefully packed treasure. You will be happy to know that upon arriving on St. Simons, Island, and opening that precious treasure, it had not a crack or chip. It was a miracle. Immediately, Paige found the ideal place to display it in our home.

The find was precious to Paige. Right away she put the set into our living room étagère for friends and visitors to enjoy viewing; it was precious to me, in that I found it, and arrived with it in tact. Kool and the Gang used the word “Cherish” to express this profound sense of treasure; in their song we hear that sense of Precious;

“—Let’s take a walk together near the ocean shore
Hand in hand you and I. Let’s cherish every moment we have been given,The time is passing by, I often pray before I lay down by your side
If you receive your calling before I awake
Could I make it through the night. …The world is always changing
Nothing stays the same
But love will stand the test of time

You must remember also— you are precious! You are precious to your mother. Even if you have feelings of estrangement, there underlies that bond that only a mother has. Probably one of the most dramatic, if not the most memorable court decisions on motherhood, comes from King Solomon. Two prostitutes came before him, each claiming possession of a baby. You can read the whole story, but my point here is what happened in the heat of rage; the real mother of the baby opted for the infant to be given to the other woman, rather than allow the Judge (King Solomon) to cut the baby in half to give a half to each woman. Thus, the “real Mother” emerged—verifying the depth of a mother’s love. It truly was the greater love of which Jesus spoke.

Moreover, you must also remember; you are precious to God. God cares about you even beyond the extent of the mother in Solomon’s story. Yes, I know. There is an expansive difference in cherishing something as a precious object, and cherishing a person as precious–“highly esteemed or cherished“–per Merriam-Webster. In one way or another, we all have that special internal vault where certain people, places, and things are held in precious regard. it is an innate part of our human condition.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians,   (13:7-8a, 13 JBP) Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen…(13)In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love. I think he is saying “Love is most precious of all.”

©Copyright Willis H. Moore