The Prized Chandelier: Serendipity Notebook

“Chronicling the amazing and unexpected ways the Holy Spirit

works in my life.”

When we moved to our new space, I spoke to my husband that a chandelier would be perfect hanging from the 20-foot vaulted ceiling. My husband and I rarely agreed when it comes to these things  but on this one, he did, surprisingly. But for the price.  They were so expensive!  So when I found a beautiful and one-of-a-kind piece with the (dubious) Murano glass from a second-hand  furniture store, I put it on lay-away.  When I finally took it home, I was so excited to have it hung but I had to wait another two weeks for the electrician to become available. When he came, he told me, to my dismay, that he couldn’t hang it because it needed a longer chain, and wires and a canopy. I was hoping to have it hung by the  holidays but I couldn’t seem to find the right kind of chain and canopy from Home Depot or Lowe’s. So I ordered them online, which took me another two weeks  and then another week of waiting for the electrician. When he came, imagine my disappointment when he said he still couldn’t  hang it with the chain I bought. He needed a sturdier chain  for safety reasons, saying that the chain I had would not hold up to a storm that might shake the house at some point in time. Someone could get killed or injured. 

(So my chandelier lay in a corner of our house to wait again--  a story with a couple more

twists worthy of another telling,  past the holidays, past the new year, past the anniversary with  a birthday looming closer.)

Later that afternoon, I was sitting, watching the sky grow ominously dark, and then  wind and rain.  I was afraid for the chandelier, yes, the one that  wasn’t even hanging

yet. I dreaded the thought of it falling, once hung ---this  precious chandelier that I have been waiting two months now to adorn our living room. 

There had been reports of destructive tornadoes up north that  past week. I thought to myself, as the rough weather unfolded outside, how devastating it would be if a tornado

struck this house at that very moment and I lose all my prized possessions; to stand in the wreck of my home  with all my worldly goods strewn around in ragged pieces and to be left with nothing. At that precise moment, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper in an unmistakable voice in my head: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust doth destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But rather, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. “

I never feel more reassured of my salvation as when these moments come...when God reveals to me His  presence and workings in my life through the Holy Spirit; when He gently

corrects, lovingly comforts, sharply convicts this ever-wandering sheep. He is my Abba, Father; the Good Shepherd who always leads me back when I stray. 

God’s Truth for me: I have unwisely invested in things that have no eternal value. There is an

urgency in the conviction  that I use God’s money and resources on things that will matter for eternity; that will bring me everlasting revenue.