The Muddied Diamond
posted in Words |Recently my daughter, Britini, came to me to vent about a bully at her school. This bully swears at the other girls, my daughter included, and threatens to punch them, among other things. I was trying to comfort Britini while getting her to look beyond her circumstances and see that the girl who is bullying is probably doing so out of pain and anger at her own life. And because of this pain and anger I wanted Britini to not only let the mean words roll off her, but to also bless this hurting bully.
The idea of blessing your enemy is not an easy, or new, concept. People have struggled with it for years, myself included. But what was really difficult for my precious daughter to understand was that God loved this other girl as much as he loved her. At that point in our conversation, Britini said, “But that’s not fair! How can he love her when she is so mean as much as he loves me?”
Good question. “God loves her just as much because his son died for her too. But, because she doesn’t know him and because she is so mean she doesn’t get to experience his love like you do.”
In discussing this with one of my girlfriends yesterday she put it this way, “There are three diamonds on a table. They are all of equal size, say 6 karats, cut and clarity. Because they are identical they each carry the same value. But, one of those diamonds gets restless and jumps off the table (suspend your disbelief here) and into a mud puddle. You pick the diamond up and place it back on the table. The diamond is still a diamond. It still has the same value to you, but its beauty is covered by it’s actions – the jump into the mud puddle.”
As my girlfriend and I elaborated on this analogy we realized that people do the same thing in a lot of different ways. The bully is covering her beauty and value with the words she chooses and the pain she tries to inflict on others.
We do the same when we spew a curse on someone or eye them with the “if looks could kill” look. We also jump in the mud puddle every time we use our words to hurt someone else or when we distort/bend the truth. Our value is still the same, but our beauty and worth are hidden from the rest of the world.
As for me, I want to be sparkling and clean. But, I realize that I am human and that I make mistakes, so it’s all too often that I find myself covered in mud. It is those times that I am deeply grateful for repentance and forgiveness. I can approach the Throne of Grace and ask God to take out his cloth and clean me off. He is faithful to do it every time.
Join me in Choosing a Better Life by asking God to clean away the mud and letting your value shine through.