Diamonds are Forever
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, new talent Sarah Austin has some fantastic things to share about true romance …
Diamonds in the Sand
By Sarah Austin
If our generation today had a theme song, it would probably be “I Want to Know What Love Is,” by Foreigner. And if you don’t know who Foreigner is, you’re probably the generation to which I am referring. The media seems to be in love with love. We see it on the TV. We read about it in books. We listen to it on the radio. Everyone seems to be talking about it, and, at the same time, everyone wants to know what it is, exactly.
We look around our campuses, in the mall, on the street even, and we inevitably find – a couple. Holding hands perhaps. Laughing, talking, smiling – like they have the world stuck in the little space between their palms.
And we ask ourselves: Why don’t I have that? Why isn’t someone walking beside me and holding my hand?
With the empty space gaping beside us, we come to the conclusion that something must be wrong with us. Or, simply, that love does not exist at all, despite our culture’s obsession with it.
Let me say here that a conclusion based on an empty space is hardly grounded in reason. And to doggedly refute the existence of something that has such insurmountable evidence in its favor is hardly logical. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” (Psalms 14:1). And “God is love” (1 John 4:16).
Imagine a diamond in the sand. A person walks by and doesn’t pick up the diamond – he’s blinded by the sun and stumbles obliviously past the precious stone. Another person walks by and doesn’t pick up the diamond either; he’s particular in the way his diamonds are cut. Yet another person searches on hands and knees, but fails to recognize the diamond for what it is amongst all the other glittering shards.
Tell me – does the fact that no one picked up the diamond make it any less valuable? It is still a diamond, perfect in itself. And someday, perhaps, a person will pick it up off the sand. But that will not in any way increase its value. It is already as valuable as it ever will be – and that is valuable indeed.
We are all of us precious stones. Our value does not ebb and flow with the tide but remains anchored in the love of the One who matters most.
What do we say then of this empty space beside us? It is nothing but a space – room in which to move freely, to learn, to grow, and to blossom. And love? You want to know what love is? Ask Him. He can show you.
1 Corinthians 13