Expensive Tastes

I think I was born with expensive tastes. Even though my family wasn’t rich, I somehow innately knew that jewels were pretty and I wanted them. Hardly a day went by when I didn’t dress up in my flouncy dress and put on my plastic tiara and jewels. I pretended I was Cinderella and because I was a missionary kid, I married King David instead of Prince Charming [that was before I understood the whole Bathsheba issue].

It didn’t disappear as I grew older. I can walk into the cookie aisle in a store and without fail, the cookies I want are the most expensive ones. Sometimes I think God put me into a missionary family so I would learn to say “no” to all the things I want and buy economically.

And I have learned to say no to most of the unnecessary things I want and it doesn’t normally bother me.  But a few months ago I was walking through a mall and passed by a jewelry store allowing myself more than the usual cursory glance. I saw a big beautiful emerald surrounded by glittering diamonds and was struck with the thought that I would never have it.

For some reason that thought made me sadder than it ever had before- especially thinking that I would never know what it feels like to be rich- like really rich. I mean, when you choose to study Global Studies in university and then go on the missions field you can’t really expect to be able to just walk into a nice jewelry store and pick something out just for the heck of it. But there is a part of me that wants to know what that is like. I only get to live life once and I want to experience all that life has to offer.

I went home still feeling sad. I knew it was silly because even the lifestyle I am living is considered super rich by more than 75 percentish of the world. But I was still sad. Until the thought came to me that I would be unbelievably rich. Someday. And it’s a sure thing that doesn’t even depend on me. As a child of God I will one day live in a mansion with foundations made of jewels and walk down streets paved with gold. And as the adopted child of a King, I will have the legitimate status of a princess.

Yesterday, in a Bible study we ready Revelations 21-22, all about the wonders of Heaven. As I read about the gates of New Jerusalem being made of pearls and even the measuring stick of the angel being made of gold, I realized that God has expensive tastes too. It’s not wrong to like nice things- what’s wrong is to make chasing after them our life end. But maybe, just maybe, God gave us expensive tastes to remind us where our true home is.