True Value

I failed to take a picture of the Honeysuckle pattern Shelley Teacup I purchased while in Cambria, California last week.  The above picture is the best I could find of the pattern off the internet.  Shelley teacups are easy to recognize by the scallop in the cup and the saucer as you see above.

Shelley cups and saucers are expensive, averaging about $85 for one in perfect condition .  My friend Dolores started my teacup collection with 5 Shelley cups and saucers many years ago, cups given her by her mother-in-law.  If you know anything about me you know I would never never spend that kind of money for a teacup.

But you did buy a Shelley you say.  Yes, I bought a Shelley and I did pay much more than I normally pay for my cups and saucers but I bought it for two reasons.  First of course it was a Shelley and not selling for $85.  It was not tagged $85 because it has a flaw.  It has a hairline crack running up the cup.  You can not feel the crack nor does it affect the use of the teacup but held to the light it is evident.

Flaws, not a pretty word.  Negative in context for sure.  To be flawed is to be thought less of.  To be priced and valued for much less.  Not a good thing to be flawed the world would say.

BUT God!  Our lives easily represent that flawed teacup.  God picks up the flawed from the rubble heap and lovingly fills it with Himself making it perfect and perfectly useful to bring glory to Himself.  The value is not in the object itself but in what the object now represents and what it produces through God Who fills it.

Emily Barnes writes about this concept in several of her teacup books and first brought this beautiful concept to my knowledge.

I love giving a teacup to someone and if it has a flaw, well, all the better because I can include a letter that shares Emily Barnes view on flawed teacups.  Last Sunday I was blessed to give my Shelley teacup to a beautiful young woman who the Lord has brought into my life.  I wrote to her about the value of her new possession and the value she had to the Lord.  As, I wrote the letter I of course was touched and blessed of the Lord too proving once again it is more blessed to give than to receive sometimes.

If you are out and about junking or antiquing and you run across a teacup that is marked down because it has a chip or flaw don't be too quick to pass it by - it might be a Shelley of great value and hopefully will remind you of your value to the Lord - flaws and all.

Linking up with http://www.sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Weekend with Precious Husband

Love this picture.  Precious Husband sent it to my phone earlier this year when I was back in Kentucky helping our daughter out.  He sent the picture and said he was having coffee by the pond and missed me.  Ahhhh!  That's why I love this man!

Another reason I love my Precious Husband is that he made plans for us to go away for a few days of R&R.  Leaving first thing in the morning.  Looking forward to hitting any thrift stores we see along the way and also a couple big antique stores where we are headed.  Yep, he is wonderful about walking through treasure shops with me.  What more could a girl ask for?

So I am packing the suitcase today and getting the love basket ready for a get-away.  Fun!

Best Friends

 

In less than a month I lost my two very best friends.  Friends that I fear will be irreplaceable.  Precious Husband of course is my true best friend but women tend to need that special bond that only comes from sharing with another woman.

I shared earlier about “Aunt Jo” the precious saint that shared our home for the last 8 months of her life.  She was a second mother to me for over 36 years and I miss her dearly.  In better times when she was still living at Sunshine Acres I knew that I could call her up when I had a need and she would always have a quick word of encouragement along with the promise that she would be praying for me. 

Aunt Jo and I shared a love for butterflies.  We agreed that butterflies reminded both of us of the verse in Corinthians that says old things have passed away and behold all things are new for the born again child of God.  When the hospital bed was removed from her room and I once again made the guest room very fru-fru in design I could not resist using lots of butterflies in the mix.  Many of the butterflies are mine but many of hers have been added and I smile when I go in and look around.

Aunt Jo passed away October 25 just days before her 98^th birthday on Halloween.  Two days later I received a call from MaryKay telling me her mother – my dear dear best friend Dolores was full of cancer and not expected to live.  With my Precious Husband’s blessing I boarded the next plane to Lubbock, Texas that afternoon and had the awesome blessing of sitting with Dolores at her bedside all through the night.  I flew back home in the morning because arrangements had to be made for Aunt Jo.

Dolores was 15 years my senior but we had the relationship of sisters.  Because she was older she shared so much wisdom with me concerning being a wife and mother.  Her godly example will forever be etched in my mind.  We laughed together like little girls and we cried together like old ladies with lots of shared burdens.  No one will ever know my heart like Dolores did.

When I arrived at her hospital bed the first thing she said was, “I knew you would come on the first plane when you got the call!”  How glad I am that I could go and sit those precious few hours with my friend.  Our visit was definitely more of a blessing to me that probably to her because that is just the way Dolores was.  She ministered to my heart that night and shared of her great joy in the knowledge that she would soon be with her Lord and Savior and with that knowledge how could she not be at peace she said.  She passed away about 3 weeks later. 

Many years ago when Dolores moved to Texas she asked me if I would like some of her teacups.  She didn’t know how I had just started into my Emilie Barnes teacup obsession and the timing of such a question was just special.  Her cups were the beginning of a wonderful collection for me that graces the walls and shelves in my home.  When she got to Texas she mailed me two metal blue speckled spoons that hang in my kitchen even now.  She said she had 2 more and she wanted us to both have them and when she saw hers she would think of me.  All these years since when I stand at my stove and see the blue spoons hanging on the wall there I think of my friend Dolores and now I miss her terribly.  Beyond a doubt Dolores was a woman that loved the Lord and maybe more importantly was a woman that knew the Lord loved her.

There no doubt will be many more posts about Dolores because there is so much more I want to tell about her.  Much more that needs to be told because by my telling you -- you too will be blessed I know! 

Truly some people leave footprints on our heart and we are never the same.