So happy to have bagels and fruit in my fridge this morning. I enjoyed eating breakfast perched in the swing and watching the songbirds on the feeders. Been suffering from bagel withdrawal for several days. I’m addicted to bagels and cream cheese and raspberry preserves with hot coffee on the side. I pondered on the porch all day enjoying the birds and taking notes of what I saw, things I want to ponder about, quotes I want to remember.

Today was so perfectly beautiful! The sky the darkest blue I’ve ever seen, cloudless and clear till late afternoon when Father Sky dragged his white pastel across the horizon, sketching some thin white clouds. He didn’t push his pastel heavily on the sky canvas and the blue sky was visible through his cloud sketches. The sun was bright and clear, hidden enough by the leaves of an old oak tree that I could see the sun’s rays shooting off in rainbow colors of a prism’s rays. Sometimes I see these rays on the wall of my stairwell in shades of yellow and pink and orange and blue but they’re always gone when I run back with my camera. I’m going to capture that reflection one day.

Sat down at my desk after supper and saw my charm bracelet was still out of my jewelry box where I had showed it to my granddaughter and my niece. They thought it was “cool” but I didn’t tell them the meaning behind all the charms. My mother kept my charm bracelet like a scrapbook when I was in high school, each charm representing a significant moment, achievement, or memory. Even my driver’s license has a charm with the correct number of my license engraved on it. My favorite charms are an elephant with ruby eyes, a little jeweled trumpet, and the princess ring from a high school sweetheart. So many memories came back as I sat down and looked at each charm. Those high school years seem so long ago.

Charm bracelets were originally worn as a way to ward off evil spirits or as a talisman to bring good luck. Our lives are like charm bracelets. We collect charms as memories and as we age our experiences mark the passage of our lives on our bracelets. Every life experience makes us unique and shapes us. Our faith in God put the jewels on our charm bracelets. In Biblical scripture bracelets are reminders of God’s promises and presence in our lives.

God used the imagery of jewelry in Bible scripture in Ezekiel to describe how he showed love to the faithful people. “I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.” God gave jewelry to his people as blessings to be treasured. God’s love adorns our life with gifts more beautiful than jewels. In Proverbs 25:12 we read, “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise counsel to an obedient ear.” I think this verse reminds us to listen to God with an open heart, to be true to him, as pure in our faith as fine gold. The Lord compares us to jewels, “treasured possessions” as said in Malachi 3:17. We’re all God’s jewels and precious in his sight.

“I hear my family’s voices in the jangling of my charms.”

― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet