.png)
A couple of times a year a James Avery catalog arrives in the mail, and though I'm not particularly a big jewelry-wearing gal, (except for the little gold loop earrings that were my mother's and my wedding ring) I love looking at their charm bracelets. I've never owned one of my own, but they hold a special kind of fascination for me.
My grandmother used to wear one to church on Sundays. It was a simple gold chain with four circular charms, one for each of her four grandchildren. Each charm had a silhouette on the front with our name and birthdate on the back. Sometimes she would let me try it on, and I would admire how those little golden discs would dance around my wrist with every move. I also had a teacher, can't remember which grade, who wore a charm bracelet on her dominant hand, and when she'd write on the chalkboard it would make the loveliest jingle.
Charm bracelets are beautiful things... and sometimes even metaphors for life.
The other day I read a post from a woman who identifies her job as "keeper of the home." Her words, which were beautiful and almost poetic, described a life of purpose, a life of utter necessity, in ministering to the needs of her family. She equated her mission to a form of worship, and I was very much drawn into the prose of her comparison. It made me think of a charm bracelet: something I have often myself compared to life, motherhood, family, and the choices we make that shape our days here on earth.
These adornments wouldn't be what they are without the charms...
but then, neither would they be what they are without the links.
Sometimes when I get to reflecting on my days, as I told you in last week's post, I think about how extraordinarily ordinary they must seem to most people. I too am a keeper of the home, and for me, that has been not only a blessing, but has also provided for me an amazing life, full of joy and purpose.
Charms shine brightly. They're made to stand out, to be noticed. They tell stories of interests and hobbies. They paint a cumulative portrait of the one whose wrist they adorn. In contrast, links don't do much... except connect, connect one link to another, provide a space for the charms. It might seem as though the links are somehow less important, less necessary, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
When I think of charms, the first thing that springs to mind are all the people in the world doing great and notable things: Nobel Prize recipients, soldiers, surgeons, inventors, CEOs, authors, leaders, teachers, mssionaries, etc. I hate to admit it, but I didn't always put "keepers of the home" in that category... at least, not until I really started thinking about it.
Home makers may not always garner the same attention, but they are vital to the success and integrity of the whole. Home makers, and I like to write it that way as they do, indeed, make a home, connect family. They connect generations through faith, holding one hand in ancestry and the other in progeny. They work behind the scenes, quietly, steadily, providing a base for the charms to do their thing. They seek no fame of their own, but delight rather in the brilliance of those that extend from their sphere.
For myself, the greatest happiness in life has come from seeing my husband, my children, my grandchildren making their own way in the world. They each shine brightly for the Lord. They are my charms, my jewels. I have no real desire to be in the limelight. The good Lord has most generously and most graciously given me more than I could ever have hoped or dreamed. He gave me the awesome responsibility of keeping the chain strong, of keeping the links connected, of witnessing the creation of each of the beautiful adornments that glow so radiantly for Him...
and in doing so, He has gifted me a splendid life, and that in itself is most charming.
Comments