The glittering diamonds hanging slender, bright and beautiful they are, catching every glistening ray of light, radiating a shimmering glow, though a simple dangler, yet the cynosure of all eyes .
A fairly recent addition to the assortment of my medley of mismatched jewellery. New, yet not new, old and yet not old. It was many years ago, I got my first diamond earrings, costing me an arm and a leg, a real fortune then, you could say. Its design most intricate, fashioned for the day, and it had a place of pride in my jewellery box .
Time went by, it grew old and jaded, as did I . The diamonds lost their lustre, the gold in which it was embedded, became tarnished and glowed no more. The design, once contemporary and modern, was now old fashioned . No longer very attractive, or used, it fell to the bottom of the tangled heap, an insignificant piece of jewellery.
Deciding one day to give it a facelift, I went to the best craftsman and enquired about a change in design, retaining the same diamonds . Though possible, he said, it would involve the removal of the diamonds and melting down of the gold . The jeweller was kind enough to let us watch the procedure , the removal of the stones, the melting under high temperature, a painful process for the gold, indeed . Finally reducing it to a small lump of nothing, the colour of dirt .
Three weeks later he called, said the earrings were ready, a simple drop of six small stones each and the old had become new . The gold made anew, was glowing, the dull stones glittering once again with a firey light, emitting a myriad of colours . And into my mind’s eye popped, a vision of myself. I think, is that not what happens to nature and us ?
We are born exquisite and perfect, to go through the various stages life. As little children carefree, then young adults and productive, followed by middle age, striving, hard in the midst of progress and advancement, until we grow tired and old, with nothing much to offer or look forward to . Lost in a world of no purpose or use, we feel rejected and discarded, nonentities aimlessly living, waiting for the end to come.
It is then when our time is done, that the Creator takes in hand His creation. The Master Craftsman stills our breath, reduces us to nothing but dust, before He recreates us, making us anew, raising us from the dead, giving us a new and celestial body, beyond recognition. Though our spirit remains unchanged, we are resurrected, amazing beings, with glorified bodies, a far better version than before .
Mary Jacob 