June 2, 1999
DOWN HOME:
All that glitters hangs
on a little silver bracelet
___We've endured a minor catastrophe around our house the past few weeks.
___Lindsay lost her charm bracelet.
___If you don't have children, or if you only have sons, you might think losing a charm bracelet would be no big deal.
___You would be wrong.
___See, a charm bracelet is kind of like a totem pole or montage of icons a girl wears around her wrist.
___A charm bracelet is highly symbolic, with myriad little ornaments that stand forsignificant moments and events in a girl's life.
MARV KNOX
EDITOR
___For example, Lindsay got a James Avery silver bone with "Betsy" engraved on it, to remind her of our family dog. We gave her a charm to represent her participation in the Farmerettes, our high school drill team. She's also received a variety of little silver what-nots for various birthdays and special occasions for years. My favorite is a tiny Mary Engelbreit crown, which keeps a longstanding family joke as close as her skinny wrist.
___Great was the consternation and loud were the lamentations when Lindsay's charm bracelet turned up missing a few weeks ago.
___I, of course, was the immediate suspect for its disappearance. Lindsay last remembered having the bracelet before we went to church on Sunday morning. She thought she might have laid it on the kitchen table, the habitation of mounds of Sunday newspaper. Since the paper had been discarded and recycled, all accusing fingers pointed at me, the chief newspaper discarder and recycler.
___But we just didn't know where it went. We searched high--the loft and Lindsay's bedroom upstairs. We searched low--the den and living room downstairs. We went through pockets and jackets and backpacks.
___Discouraged, I casually asked Lindsay if she remembered every charm on her bracelet. Then I secretly began calculating the cost of replacing the whole bracelet. What a ghastly thought--to spend good money to buy something you already had.
___The ordeal reminded me of the time, more than a decade ago, when we "lost" Joanna's keys. We finally gave up and had a whole new set made. Days later, while playing on the floor with Lindsay and Molly, I looked under the edge of the dining room curtain and spied the original keys.
___Like those keys, Lindsay's bracelet wasn't lost forever. She found it in the pocket of a pair of shorts. The smile on her face when she confirmed the good news sparkled far more brightly than all those little silver charms.
___Jesus said unbelievers are like lost treasures. He came to seek and to find them. And we're to help. How hard are we looking for priceless lost souls?
___
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