Beautiful, Happy, Joyful, Peaceful

I like rocks.

I’ve always found rocks fascinating. Oh I like plants and animals too, but they have to be fed, and they eventually die off. . . I’ve had lots of pets and plants come and go, but I still have all of the pretty rocks I’ve collected.

Every year, I attend the Gem & Mineral Show at the convention center. I love it! The fossils, and gemstones, and mineral specimens, are often so freaking gorgeous or amazing that they take my breath away. I save up my cash, so I can spend it at the show. . . I take the first day of the show off from work, so I can get there early and browse the tables and displays ahead of most people. . . I admit it, I am a collector. . . I enjoy the hell out of my day at the show every year, and I bring home treasures to add to my collection.

It does get to be quite a labor carrying around all of those rocks and gemstones that I buy at the convention center. I do make several trips back to the car to unload my tote bag, but I am still always achey and sore the next day.

So, this year, I got home, and I unwrapped all my treasures, like always. There I was, surrounded by glittering beauty, happy, swelled up with gratitude, swooning, and amazed, to actually own this beauty, or that marvelous glittering thingamabob, when - I happened to sit down and read something online that just took my breathe away.

It was the simplest statement. A lady was writing a short summary about her life, and what she sensed were her new responsibilities now. She wrote: "My job now is to be beautiful, happy, joyful, and peaceful. I can even manage that with a toothache."

Well, for some reason, I thought about that, and it just shocked me like a clap of thunder. I mean, it struck me as such a beautiful and desirable thing - that it froze me in place, and took away my focus.

Ooooooooh. Wouldn’t THAT be lovely. . . I thought.

How AWESOME. . . How attractive!

I quickly realized that I would be willing to give away ALL of my precious gems, crystals, and fossils, that I had just bought, - for that. Yes, the whole pile! Gone. It was an easy choice really. . . Just give me a woman determined to be beautiful, happy, joyful, and peaceful. SOLD! What man could resist that? Not me. That sounded like the basis for a relationship made in the highest heaven, and not like anything I’m familiar with. . .

Seriously, there is not one gemstone, that shines as brightly as that would be wonderful.

And I know, yeah, weird coincidences, and stuff like this, - they happen in my life on purpose, so I can write about them. But still, what a freaking beautiful thing that would be!!!

Staggering.

What man doesn’t want EXACTLY that? No more beast of burden. . . It would be FUN to be a man! What stallion would not enjoy carrying around a rider like that?

Beautiful, - happy, - joyful, - peaceful.

Oh, that would be a glory to carry around, - not a burden at all. . .

Beautiful - that means not letting yourself go to seed, and being attractive to your husband - knowing he might find you desirable and use you.

Happy - is a joyous contentment. It means being pleased with what you have, and that you belong to your husband.

Joyful - means full of joy. Joy is the emotion of being released from confinement. It means celebrating that you are now better off than you were before.

Peaceful - means full of peace. It means not fighting, manipulating, stirring things up, nagging, or complaining. It means having faith.

The wisest of men, King Solomon, wrote "who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." Well, I actually literally know what he means now! . . Whole pile – gone. In a heartbeat.

You know, Christians, are said to be the bride of Christ. Don’t you suppose God would like the exact same things in a mate – and appreciate it if you tried to be His glory – and be beautiful, happy, joyful, and peaceful - for Him?

"Better is a handful with quietness,

than both the hands full

with travail and vexation of spirit."

Ecclesiastes 4:6