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The Rocking Chair
Measuring the true value of a blessing.
When my daughter
was accumulating furniture for her first apartment, I bought an old oak
rocking chair at a yard sale for eight dollars. When moving day arrived,
she decided that the rocker would not fit her dιcor so I placed it in a
spare bedroom. For years it sat there, ignored.
A few weeks ago at my own yard sale, I decided to let it go. I sold it to
a shocked gentleman for three dollars. After it was gone, I missed it
terribly and wondered, "Why had I sold it ... and for only three dollars?"
The answer came quickly as one of those light-bulb-over-the-head
revelations.
Because I had
paid so little, I never appreciated its real worth. I never considered
the craftsmans hands that turned the spindles, the skilled furniture
maker who fastened the joints in place, or the babies who were rocked to
sleep in it. I always saw it as just a yard sale
bargain.
And I sold it, as trash. What a lesson.
Our lives are filled with blessings that cost us little:
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a starlit night
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the giggle of lighthearted children
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a snow day
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birds chirping at dawn
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a peach tree laden with ripe fruit
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a yard sale rocking chair
Let us never measure the true worth of a blessing by
the yardstick of its cash value. Instead, let us use wisdom,
appreciating each blessing as a gift, like an old friend who has come by to
visit, and rock, for a while.
Proverbs, Chapter 16 : Verse 16
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