Diamonds in the Rough

This past weekend my husband a spent the weekend with one of our Free Methodist churches doing missions stuff.  We travel a lot and see a lot of people and so, though I recognize faces, I sometimes have a terrible time connecting the face with the place and remembering the name is half the time impossible.  As I walked into the church I greeted people and walked into the kitchen to where the ladies were working and I wanted to say hello.  Right there inside the door stood a gal I hadn’t hardly seen in 25 years but remembered well.  It was Carole. What a surprise!

Carole and I embraced and laughed at the years gone by and most importantly remembered our college dorm floor that we had both lived on at the same time for 2 years.  Delta II Diamonds in the Rough as we were called then.  We were reminded of that daily as we walked through the hall and saw the big motto painted in blues for all to see. 

It was fun to see a friend from college that I hadn’t seen in years! Then I began remembering the person that I was my first few years of college and I began to think, “Oh no, what if she thinks I’m the same person that I was then?”  I knew she wouldn’t do this, but I had visions of her going to her pastor’s wife and saying, “Do you realize the kind of girl that you brought in to speak to us tonight?”  You see, I went to a Christian college and I my first few years there I was enjoying my freedom, working out who I really was and not thinking of being the person for Christ that I knew I should be.  That must give you quite a visual of what I may have done.  The funny thing is that I didn’t drink or do illegal things as many college students finding their way often does.  I was the kind of girl that thought I was really something; that many times was unkind to people, made fun of people, was loud and obnoxious, pulled pranks (well, I still do that but we’re talking today about then…), burped the full alphabet loudly in the hallway.  I think you get the picture. 

As I stood there talking to Carole, all of those things began flooding back into my mind.  Twenty-five years later the person that I had been back then still embarrassed me.  I was embarrassed because I could have been someone better for Christ and I wasn’t.  I was embarrassed that she knew me back then but hadn’t really known me since.  I was embarrassed so much so that I said to her, “Just so you know, I’m a different person now than I was back then.”  Wow, to even have to say that made me feel icky. 

We had a wonderful weekend with the people of this church and it was so fun reconnecting with Carole again after so many years.  You know, we are all at some point those Diamonds in the Rough.  I never realized how very true that floor motto was for us.  To look back over the last 25 years and see what God has done in my life has been incredible.  He has changed me in ways that would take many pages of writing to explain.  He took a rough girl and worked to soften her around the edges and continues to make me into the beautiful diamond that He sees that I can be to shine brightly for Him. 

I was able to stand up in front of the church and share how God has used this diamond in the rough for His glory.  What a great feeling to know that our past is our past and that He uses our present and our future.  That motto on Delta II has long been painted over, just a memory of years gone by. For those of us that lived on that floor, we will carry it in our hearts forever.  There is a pride of telling people that we lived on Delta II.  Though we may have gray in our hair and walk a little slower we still are those diamonds in the rough. Daily we are being made into that perfect jewel that God would have us to be.  It’s safe to say that we’ll never be that flawless diamond until we make it to heaven because here on this earth we will always be a little rough around the edges.  I can’t end without telling you what Carole did ask me,  “Can you still burp the whole alphabet?”   I’ll let you wonder about that one.