A long-delayed gift

[HelenaZF]

I was looking over these forums earlier today and thinking that I hadn't written anything here for quite a while. At that moment, I prayed that if the Lord would give me something to write, I would write it.



This afternoon, Dean and I attended a Vespers liturgy at a local church. During the service, there was time set aside for meditation at one of 4 stations set up in the sanctuary. I chose the one that had the burning incense. As I added my bit of incense to the burning coal, I remembered the prayer earlier asking for a word to share.



After the service, a friend introduced us to the celebrant there, excited to have him meet people that could bring visual arts into a coming event. I remembered the prayer again when we invited him to visit our website gallery here on this message board.



This evening, the Lord gave me a special gift of understanding of a happening that occurred almost 20 years ago. It was something that I found a bit troubling at the time, but never had a resolution for. This is the story of that happening. I hadn't thought about this in years, but apparently, this was the appointed time to remember.



A ministry friend had taken the King Jesus banner overseas on a European tour. One of the venues where the banner was set up was an opulent castle owned by a royal of that country. The decor was exquisite as you would expect from a family used to being able to buy the best. The host remarked that he thought the banner was created with rather cheap materials and thought it ought to have real jewels on it in order to be of a proper "museum quality" piece of art.



When the story was relayed to me later, I remember feeling a little bit of sadness about that. The only thing I was able to say at the time was that if I could have afforded real jewels, I would have used them. But the report left me with a sense that maybe my best efforts were not really good enough.



Tonight, as I was meditating and thinking through the events of the day, that whole scenario came back to me...but with one difference: I can now see it in the light of the words Jesus spoke when the rich young ruler could not leave his wealth to follow him. He said "It is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle." And at that moment, I understood.



The royal host could not see the Kingdom of God represented through the King Jesus banner. His own wealth and privilege blinded him to seeing the message of what the real riches of the Kingdom are. Instead of being open to the message, he was distracted by the materials. It wasn't my failure to create a proper standard representing Kingdom truth, but his inability to perceive it that precipitated the remarks.



I realized that God had answered that prayer from earlier today with a gift to me. The unsettled thought about the incident is no longer an issue for me now, and I believe the understanding He gave me about it is also a gift to anyone reading who has had a God-given vision disparaged in a way that discouraged you, or at least diminished your joy. God is saying that there is a vindication and an understanding you will experience. It may not come right away, but it will come.

[flaglady]

What a lovely story, Zena! How short sighted that rich man was and didn't he fail to receive the blessing of seeing the richness in the message of that banner!







May I also compliment you on your file of smileys! 143! That must be a record!

(Yes, I did count them all!)