Aden's diamonds

Up until this past Christmas my engagement ring and wedding band have been the only two pieces of jewelery I have ever owned. I am not a girlie girl, so it has never been an issue for me, and considering my job description it has always seemed down right silly to spend money on jewelery. I have never even really had a desire for nice diamonds, bracelets, or earrings. I don't even have my ears pierced. But when I opened a small package from Richard this past December... I am not going to lie, I really liked what was inside. The delicate diamond necklace set in white gold was shiny and I fell in love immediately. I surprised myself in my affinity for something I have never really wanted. I knew that it was something that Richard had worked hard to get and the gesture was precious to me. So over the past couple of months I have worn it a lot. I seldom take it off, but the other night I did take it off and laid it on my bathroom vanity.

Today Alex and Aden came running up to me with sickly, white faces. Alex quickly blurted out the details of how Aden had picked up my necklace and was playing with it. Alex then stepped in, like he always does, and tried to get it away from Aden. They struggled and the necklace, well, it ended up down the bathroom drain.

I felt immediately sick. I only knew that I could not deal with them right then because I was angry, so I sent them to chairs. I let them sit for about thirty minutes before I felt in control enough to approach the topic with them. I felt very wronged by those little boys and I spared nothing in letting them know it. Most of my heavy handedness came down on Aden, but I felt completely justified in making him feel horrible for touching something valuable that did not belong to him, and for losing it.

After I got done scolding him. I told him to get down and go play. He walked past me into the kitchen and then turned into a puddle. Aden was sobbing, and curdled up into a little ball on the floor. It was the kind of crying that a mother immediately recognizes as honest, pure. I went to him, realizing for the first time that I had been more wrong than he had been. I was wrong in the way I dealt with the loss of a material object. I was wrong to let something of NO eternal value matter so much to me.

I asked him to calm down and tell me why he was crying not realizing what I was asking for. Through sobs his words cut like a surgical knife. "But do you still love me mommy?" Feeling all the air leave my lungs, I answered, "I still love you Aden, I will always love you, nothing could make me stop loving you." Aden turned his chubby little face up toward mine, and looking straight into my eyes he asked,"but do you love me more than your necklace?" I could not believe how wrong I had been, and how honest my son's assessment of the situation was.

I have always prided myself in not being a materialistic person. I have never really sought after making sacrifices so I could have more stuff. I was just not raised that way. My father in me has always kept me very humble, or so I thought. Today I learned that I was acting like a materialistic person. I somehow made my four-year-old feel that a diamond necklace mattered more to me than him. I apologized to Aden profusely and he, in his choppy little voice just said, "it's okay I forgive you and nothing is as important as God anyway." Maybe someday I will be as wise as my sons.

Matthew 6:20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."