The Button Jar

The Button Jar

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

The school of hard knocks has taught me that everyone, rich or poor, intelligent or not, attractive or otherwise, carries at least one great hurt. Paige was tall and beautiful and aloof. The other girls in her dorm thought she was stuck-up because she responded to their greetings with only a nod of her head or answered their questions with monosyllables. Gradually, they stopped talking to her. If they had been patient and had attempted to draw her out more, they would have discovered she actually had a severe stuttering problem and didn’t trust herself to say more than one or two words.

This is not a perfect world, and we’re not perfect people, so why don’t we encourage ourselves with the delicious thought it’s okay for us to be different, to be who we are? To remind myself of that point, I have on my desk a pint Mason jar filled with antique buttons: tiny pearls from a baby’s gown; coarse browns from a work shirt; bright blues from a Sunday dress; and my favorite, a bold red, green, and purple button that may have “fancied up” an otherwise drab winter coat.

I found the jar in an Iowa antique shop at a time when I was feeling drab, imperfect, unimportant. The jar was positioned next to another jar filled with white pearl buttons, but I ignored that first collection and purchased the one filled with contrast and color and imperfect fasteners.

Now whenever I get in one of my “I’m not good enough” moods, I need only to look at my jar of buttons to be reminded how boring life would be if we all were the same. A simple thought, certainly, but one packed with encouragement as I face the challenges of each new day. —SANDRA

Lord, thank you for your reminders of how precious we are to you. Help us—help me—to live as if we are aware moment by moment of your great love.

Our acceptance before God is complete and secure even when we are disappointed in ourselves. —ERWIN LUTZER, AUTHOR AND PREACHER