{"id":1150,"date":"2021-09-20T09:46:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T21:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2021-09-20T09:46:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T21:46:45","slug":"all-is-vanity-diamond-rings-and-bling-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/all-is-vanity-diamond-rings-and-bling-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;All is Vanity&#8221; &#8211; Diamond Rings and Bling II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Eccl 1:2\u00a0 <em>&#8220;Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last month, I shared with all of you my plans for our Ladies Fellowship meeting that I had planned for this month, &#8220;Diamond Rings and Bling&#8221;.\u00a0 I wanted to give an update here but also share how God taught me more!\u00a0 If you missed this guest blog post or just forgot about it, please go back in the archives to retrieve it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fitvids-video\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"dwFChx4nLd\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/10\/diamond-rings-and-bling\/\">Diamond Rings and Bling<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Diamond Rings and Bling&#8221; &#8212; Sonbeams and Shadows\" src=\"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/10\/diamond-rings-and-bling\/embed\/#?secret=dwFChx4nLd\" data-secret=\"dwFChx4nLd\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Our numbers were small.\u00a0 Several were in quarantine because of Covid, a few others were &#8220;under-the-weather&#8221;.\u00a0 I was struggling with a back issue and (at the time, an undiagnosed yet), UTI.\u00a0 Our pianist had broken her wrist so had not been playing.\u00a0 Her daughter who had been helping in church was one who was now in quarantine!\u00a0 The lady who was going to lead us in a group song and sing a special had an Asthma attack earlier in the week and could not sing at all!\u00a0 The air conditioner wasn&#8217;t working when we arrived.\u00a0 It seemed like the devil was really fighting this meeting.\u00a0 I confess that I did have thoughts of postponing it!\u00a0 The best pre-meeting blessing was that it was an absolutely beautiful day here in Tennessee!<\/p>\n<p>I really think that the Lord blessed in spite of everything!\u00a0 More did show up than I had anticipated and there was a good spirit.\u00a0 We had a sign-up list for the menu but hardly anyone signed up.\u00a0 (Which was unusual!).\u00a0 I began panicking that there wouldn&#8217;t be enough food so, on the spur of the moment, I gave my husband verbal instructions on mixing up some salmon croquettes while I got dressed and then finished shaping and cooking them once I arrived early at the church.\u00a0 As it turned out, several brought entrees who had not signed up and we actually had way too much food!\u00a0 (\ud83c\udfb5&#8221;Why worry, when you can pray&#8221;\ud83c\udfb5). I should have been trusting God more!<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1157 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-768x459.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-1536x917.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-2048x1223.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-890x530.jpeg 890w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-Ladies-445x265.jpeg 445w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For those of you who are a pastor&#8217;s wife or who devote most of your time to church ministries, have you ever felt this way or experienced similar potential disasters?\u00a0 I think we all have!\u00a0 I knew God planned this all out and for us to cancel would have given the devil the victory.\u00a0 The problem comes when we try to carry it all on our own shoulders rather than trusting God.\u00a0 The burden can cause some to become physically ill while others end up with a bad attitude.\u00a0 Do you have weapons to fight this?\u00a0 My weapon was knowing, (many times from experience!), that the more the devil fights, the more God is working and I wanted to be a part of those blessings!\u00a0 I wasn&#8217;t sure who&#8217;s heart He was going to bless or comfort but, HE knew!<\/p>\n<p>I had been studying my lesson all week and thought I was ready to deliver it but God had more!\u00a0 It was one of those &#8220;Duh&#8221; moments when I woke up that morning!\u00a0 One of the most obvious verses relating to the lesson didn&#8217;t occur to me until I began stirring around&#8211;Ecclesiastes 1:2!<\/p>\n<p>Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Bling&#8221; is nothing more than vanity!\u00a0 My devotional began with talking about diamonds.\u00a0 Other than being a symbol of love, the size of the diamond is really more shallow.\u00a0 Does a larger diamond ring mean that a husband loves his wife more than a man who&#8217;s meager wages will only allow him to buy a fragment of that size? \u00a0 Of course not!\u00a0 But, many equate the size of the diamond on a scale of success!\u00a0 It becomes a trinket to flaunt.<\/p>\n<p>My husband and I got married while in Bible College.\u00a0 He certainly did not have much money and along with his full time college load, he was also working full time in a feed mill to pay his tuition.\u00a0 He let me pick out the style of ring I wanted which was just a simple solitaire but, his budget only allowed for a 1\/5 carat diamond.\u00a0 It didn&#8217;t matter to me.\u00a0 His love was worth much more than any size of diamond.<\/p>\n<p>My next point was about the &#8220;blingy&#8221; things in life being a distraction.\u00a0 I think this is what Solomon was trying to convey in Ecclesiastes, chapter one.\u00a0 Whether we are working from sun up to sun down to provide everything to make life easy or trying to accumulate wealth for the purpose of being liked or to assure our own egos that we &#8220;have enough&#8221;, it is all vanity!<\/p>\n<p>I understand that, when someone or a couple who is starting off in life, there are necessities for setting up a home; furniture, appliances, linens and kitchenware.\u00a0 It all takes money!\u00a0 Let&#8217;s be careful that we buy what is necessary and not fall into a trap of impressing others with huge credit card debt.\u00a0 There is no shame in starting off small, even low quality, until items can be replaced slowly with items of higher quality.\u00a0 To buy something we can&#8217;t afford or something that will only impress others is vanity.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s keep our eyes focused on God&#8217; provisions and not the &#8220;Bling&#8221;!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1158 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-ring.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-ring.jpeg 1875w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-ring-768x793.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gails-ring-1488x1536.jpeg 1488w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" \/>So often, it is the &#8220;bling&#8221; that gets people in debt or moves their attention from what is most important.\u00a0 Our nature is to impress others and that is often done through surrounding ourselves with the things that make us feel important or the perception others have of us.\u00a0 God wants our attention and focus on him!\u00a0 He wants to supply our needs but if we go off on a buying tangent, we block Him from the blessings He would have given us, if we had only waited on Him!<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t need &#8220;things&#8221; to truly validate our worth&#8211;at least not our worth to God!\u00a0 God loves every, single, one of us!\u00a0 But, do we validate God?!!!\u00a0 Is God just another &#8220;thing&#8221; in your life so you have &#8220;all of your ducks in a row&#8221;?\u00a0 I am not against people having nice things.\u00a0 But, sometimes nice things have people!\u00a0 We no longer depend on God.<\/p>\n<p>Is your house too nice to risk inviting a Sunday School class over who might spill something on your sofa or your car too nice to pick up dirty kids for church that might leave chocolate candy to melt between the seats?\u00a0 (&#8216;Been there!). Of course, take precautions! \u00a0 While living on Aruba, I kept the backs of my sofa and chairs covered with decorative throw blankets.\u00a0 It is hot, hot, hot there and the most careful person is going to sweat.\u00a0 Years of accumulated, sweaty shirts would eventually leave an odor on the fabrics so, yes, I was careful but it did not keep me from opening my home to others.\u00a0 While I have probably made bigger messes, I don&#8217;t allow kids to have food and drink in my car or on my furniture.\u00a0 It is simply taking care and being a good steward of what God has given me.\u00a0 What I do, though, is provide a safe place for snacks and drinks to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n<p>I think this all comes down to <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Colossians 3:2.\u00a0 <em>\u201cSet your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.\u201d<\/em><\/span><em> \u00a0<\/em> If we are more concerned about what we have rather than our concern for people&#8211;for souls, our affection is misplaced.<\/p>\n<p>We had a fun meeting and I hope each lady went home, realizing her worth to God.\u00a0 Our value on earth might be minuscule but we are connected to the eternal ring and will be Jesus&#8217; bride in heaven!\u00a0 Aren&#8217;t you thankful that He saw your worth, was willing to die for your sins, and invited you to HIS house?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eccl 1:2\u00a0 &#8220;Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.&#8221; Last month, I shared with all of you my plans for &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[359],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}