God Glitter

I am officially a Church Lady.  I have the bag to prove it.  Somewhere in between my first and second child I had enough required “stuff” to bring to church that I got a bag just to conquer it.  My current church bag has its own little resting place in my home from Sunday to Wednesday back to Sunday and I put the required “stuff” in there depending on whether it is a Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday morning or Wednesday night.  Once our baby is old enough to start going to Big Church her “stay quiet and don’t bug daddy while he’s preaching stuff” will be in there too.  But I checked and we don’t have to do that until she starts school.

So a few weeks ago I sat down in church, and reached into my church bag to get my Bible.  As I pulled it out it was covered in …….. gold glitter.  Yes, I realize that story could’ve gone much worse.  And just for the record my church bag has seen waaaaay worse than gold glitter.  I just don’t love glitter.  Confetti I get, but glitter annoys me.  The glitter covered my Bible and then my hands and then my clothes and stayed with me all day long.  If I tried to brush it off, it just reappeared somewhere else nearby.

This is the for real picture of my Bible.....glitter and all.

I was momentarily irritated by this until I realized that the glitter had come from a precious gift from my littlest daughter made for me during one of her classes at church.  She was proud of her gift and gave it to me happily, stuffing it in my church bag where she knew it would make it home.  Even the youngest among us knows the power of the church bag.

The bottom of my church bag.

That was over two weeks ago and my church bag is still full of glitter that clings to everything.  This Sunday, I just grinned and clapped the glitter off onto a friend sitting next to me.  I was reminded that the Preschool Glitter Days are very short-lived.  When you are in the middle of them they seem long and redundant.  But now that my oldest is about to start high school and the only glitter my middler uses is on her hair occasionally or what she can sneak onto her eyelids I am convinced more than ever to enjoy the church bag glitter days.

The way the glitter clings reminded me of the impact we can make on one another.  We were created to be present with one another.  The joy that a generous act or a thoughtful reminder brings sticks like gold glitter.  There’s nothing better than being loved by someone who really knows you.  I’ve been encouraged in my writing and parenting endeavors this week by old and new friends and family who give me courage to believe more fearlessly.  They know me and accept me and love me no matter.  This type of attachment sticks and reappears to strengthen; just like my church bag glitter encounters.

A couple of years ago I found a marvelous verse;

 “They will sparkle in His land like jewels in a crown.”  Zechariah 9:16

That’s what I want my life to be.  I want to reflect the truth of who God is, what He thinks and feels.  In the life of other people I want to be God glitter.  I want to be little sparkly reflective reminders of a God who is creative and loving and honest; a God who is good enough to give us glitter.