The Never Ending Chronicles of The Ring, Lesson 4: Insurance Policy is Assurance Policy

The never ending Chronicles of the Ring, Lesson 4: Insurance Policy is Assurance Policy

After finding my diamond that fell off of my wedding ring I took it to the jewelers to get it fixed.  I had let 3 very important lessons sink in.  Trusting in God’s promises, even in the turbulence.  Making sure connecting moments with my husband and kids are contagious.  And living a joy filled life where smiles are not strangers.  All this because of a lost diamond.  I guess if you let Him, God will not waste a single thing.  He will allow things to happen just to draw us closer to him in relationship.  On my way to pick up my ring I wondered if  He could squeeze any more lessons out of this whole ordeal.

At the jewelry store I slipped the ring back on my finger.  It looked beautiful, like the day I first saw it.  The void was filled!  I asked the jeweler how much it would have been to replace the diamond if I had not found it.  Thousands of dollars he said.  And then I asked how I could be sure this would not happen again?  He told me to get the prongs checked regularly.  At lease twice a year.  There was a crack in the base that could have been found and fixed months ago.  He also talked about purchasing an insurance policy.  You pay up front and if it is ever lost or stolen the value is protected with the policy.  

The ring was all fixed and back on my finger.  I wanted to protect it.  “Check the prongs regularly,” he said,  “And get an insurance policy to protect the value.”  Six months later I found myself saying, “I should get this prong checked... I’ll stop by the jewelers next week.”  Next week never came.  It’s been a year now.   Still have not checked the prongs.  Still no insurance policy.

If my life is any reflection of how lazy I can be with checking my prongs, then I am a real waist of God’s time on this here earth.  But I can say that the lessons I took in last year did sink in.  And has had an amazing impact on my life attitude.  Resulting in better moments and better relationships.

As long as I walk this earth I am a work in progress, not a finished product.  There is always another lesson to learn.  Checking prongs every 6 months is what the jeweler suggested.  I never really feel like going to get the prongs checked.  My ring looks fine and feels fine.  I know I should and said I would.   A check up with the jeweler would have saved me the heartache of loosing it in the first place.  The only way to make it a habit is to do it regularly.  It was not suggested to me for my pain, discomfort or to annoy me.  It was actually for my good and to save me from the consequences of a diamond falling off it’s ring.  He is the expert.  Check in with the expert.

Awe, another lesson!  The jeweler knows diamonds and his instructions are what is best.  There is a Jeweler of our life that I need to be in check with... He knows what is best.  He is an expert in life.  He blesses me with all kinds of diamonds and instructs me on how to care for them.  But I don’t always feel like following those instructions.  And I’m not alone in this, am I?  God’s ways are not always our ways, are they?  We all seem to know so much better and flow with our own ways so much easier.  But in reality, we do not know better or bigger than God.  He sees the past, present and future.  He knows what is best for us; what is for our ultimate good.  He did not give us guidelines on how to live and commandments to obey for our pain, discomfort or to annoy us.  Although sometimes our limited minds perceive it that way.  He has our best in mind when he gave us the blue print on how to be saved from the consequences of our fallen condition.  Check our life-prongs with the expert life-jeweler whether we feel like doing it or not!  That is the only way we know for sure if we have a strong and stable connection.   Being consistent with checking in reveals any cracks in the bace that needs attention before disaster strikes, it keeps our connection with God in working order.

And what about that insurance policy?  Insurance for assurance.  How can I be assured that I have the wisdom to live out these lessons to the best of my ability?  That I am available to my husband and my kids?  I can run out of steam on my own.  I need to be connected in my relationship with the expert in Life!  His strength, his encouragement and his wisdom gives me what I need to keep running this life race.  He says to pray continually because he wants to be that constant source of energy for our life.  It’s for our good.  He calls his Word our daily bread because he knows that our souls, like our tummies, get hungry every single day.  Its not to annoy us.  He wants our attention because he knows how easily we are distracted or, in my case, lazy.  Only then do we understand what it means when we hear that nothing in this world can take the place of a true relationship with Christ Jesus.  A void completely filled.  A wholeness that has no gaps.  A relationship that fulfills every need.  No need to search elsewhere.  Insurance for my life means being connected to my Father in heaven and following his ways.  Assurance  for my life is knowing that if something were to go wrong, the value is protected.  If I must walk through fire, I will not be scorched.  I don’t have to fork out the full cost of replacement because I have a relationship to fall back on.  In practical terms… daily prayers and devotionals.  Philippians 2: 1-4 explains the practical pay-it-forward benefits.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” 

The insurance for my family is the assurance that I am available to speak living words into their life after regular visits to my Jeweler to have my prongs checked.  You see, how can I be an encouragement to them if I have not been encouraged myself?  And I know that comes from being united with Christ.

There have been changes in our home.  Trusting during turbulence.  Connecting has been contagious.  Smiles are not strangers.  But the biggest change is my devotion to checking in with the Expert.  Getting my part right with Him so that He can make it all right in my home.