Beautifully Flawed

It was a priceless dream.  A man presented me with two soft gray jewelry boxes.  There was to be a wedding.  I supposed one of the boxes would hold a ring.  Upon opening it, I was immediately unimpressed and confused.  In the box was this rectangle-shaped, cloudy, flawed, diamond in the rough.  The conversation in my head, (why would someone give this to someone they were going to marry?), contorted my expression causing this man to say, "Hold it up to the light to see the incredible sparkling of it."  As I lifted it towards the light, it became a hundred times its original size and the sparkle He spoke of was incredible...unquestionably, a slice of Heaven.  Though, more beautiful than anything I had ever seen, my focus seemed to bend magnetically towards all the aberrations.  I had a private conference now going on in my head, "this is not good, why would he buy this one with all these flaws?", then again, the Thought Reader spoke, "Those aren't flaws. That's a picture of the owner."  Closer observation affirmed a three-dimensional portrait of a man.   The second jewelry box contained a necklace with a beveled square medallion on it; the etchings on it were indiscernible to me in the dream.

The message:  A gemologist looks at a diamond’s clarity with a 10X microscope.  Inclusions and blemishes, not visible to the naked eye, become distinguishable at this magnification, which determines its value.  It has nothing to do with appearance, even though not flawless, it can still look stunning.    

The diamond God asked me hold up to the Light, He then magnified 100X showing me all the inclusions and blemishes, even the cloudiness of it broke-out into glistening Heavenly splendor, which a gemologist is not able to see.  They see the cloudiness, which is made up of many small crystals, but they are impossible to see individually.  What is impossible with man is possible with God!  It was beautiful!

A gemologist subtracts value from a diamond based on its flaws and blemishes.  In my dream, God added value by “utilizing” the flaws and blemishes to bring value to Himself, the “Owner” of every child of God.  Every flaw, every blemish, every sin and weakness is seared into the image of His Son, Jesus.  A Whole, Three-dimensional Presence of the Living God within us.  He took it all upon Himself on the Cross, SO THAT, we would have peace and be healed in His name.   

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds we are healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)

He’s freed us to be His Light in a very dark world.  He sees only our flawless beauty! I’ll never forget this dream.  I’ll never forget what JESUS has done for me.  

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole."  Isaiah 53:5 (Amp)

I have a very bad habit of seeing what’s wrong with any given thing or circumstance.  It comes naturally to me. =/  As with this dream, after seeing such incredible, too lovely for words beauty, I chose to dwell on what I didn’t like, the flaws.  It’s all too often how I see myself.

My prayer for me, and for you, is that we will accept and acknowledge, on a daily basis, how priceless the Gift of Jesus is to us.  That we will LET His Light shine through us by focusing, not on what’s wrong with us, our neighbor or the world, but what He has made right by His finished work on the Cross and the good He has for each one of us to do.  We are so loved by Him, regardless of where we’ve been or what we’ve done.  I FELT His love through this dream and His appeal for me to know how He sees me and how much He loves me.  I pray you feel it too.  He sees each one of us just like that! We are not devalued because we have flaws and weaknesses.  Our value comes from Him alone; nothing we do or don’t do can change that.  He loves us and provides the Way out of our mire and self-indulgence to live a life filled with joy and peace.  We are free indeed!

But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.  For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.   

Romans 6:22-23 (Amp)

Because of Him!