Precious Jewels
When I was asked to contribute a something to Yakuti for the married women, I felt both excitement and apprehension.
The excitement came from the topic. To be able to share from my heart about something I thoroughly enjoy and completely believe in…wow, yes of course!! What a privilege! Then the apprehension kicked in because of my “marital age”. You see, I’m still such a baby wife. I’m not even a decade into this journey (having just clocked 8yrs this April). What can I possibly share that would be of value? I seem to have more failures than victories to speak of at this stage of the journey. But you know what? I think the failures are where I should start…because often it’s the mistakes we make that help others more than presenting a ‘picture perfect’ image.
So I want to just say up front that I do not have a perfect marriage and I am not a perfect wife. I am however a beautiful work in progress. And before I get into some specifics of my own marriage and the lessons learnt (that will come in future posts, don’t worry I have plenty to share!), can I just take you back for a minute to the key verse around which this website, Yakuti, is built.
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” (Proverbs 31:10)
Notice that question “who can find?”. You know, this wife who is oh so amazing is not someone that is just sitting around in plain view. She is hidden away, and has to be found. All precious jewels were once hidden away, deep inside rock and dirt. They had to be dug out, cut, taken through a heating process, cleaned and polished to make them worthy of display. So if a wife of noble character is worth more than rubies, then it goes without saying that her beginnings are somewhat like the precious stones. She will be rough, raw, and rather ordinary.
It’s only after the wedding day that the process of beautification begins. It’s in the day to day moments of married life that the cutting, heating, cleaning and polishing is carried out. And if a woman understands this and works with this process she will never be disappointed in her marriage and she will in time become the most precious and valued person in her husband’s heart.
Every woman has that potential inside her, it just needs to be found. And it can only be found and brought out by Christ. He is the one who transforms lumps of very ordinary and raw looking minerals into precious jewels.
What’s interesting though is that we start marriage by taking a snapshot of that end product and we don’t even realize it. Isn’t the central person in any set of wedding photos the bride? All resplendent in her beautiful dress she is the “jewel”. Regardless of dress design, hairstyle, accessories…a bride is the focal point of every wedding photo and it is her beauty that draws the ‘oohs and ahhs’ from people.
Today I look back on my own wedding photos and I’m rather blown away by what I see. Like I said, it’s been 8 years…a lot has changed. My body is not what it was on my wedding day. Four children tends to change a girls’ shape quite a bit *haha*. But that’s only the external view. If you look beyond the ‘love handles’ and stretch marks, you will in fact see that I am slowly starting to resemble the beautiful bride in the wedding photos. And that beautification process is not from anything I have done on my own or any good fortune that’s come my way. It’s not because I have a ‘perfect husband’, live in a ‘perfect house’, wear ‘perfect clothes’, and have ‘perfect children’. I don’t have any of those things. I do however have a perfect God. And He alone can make you into the wife you were destined to be, living the marriage He longs you to have.
I am truly convinced that marriage is the most precious gift God has given to mankind and that Godly wives are the crowning jewels in all happy and healthy unions.
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