My Prize

Last week I attended an art conference in Milwaukee WI.  There were many gallery shows and at one they were holding a silent auction of fine art for charity.  One of the items was a tea bowl made by Paul Soldner.  Not just any tea bowl but one he had made during the last days of his life.  I bid on it but never expected to win.  Late in the afternoon on Friday I received a call congratulating me on the winning bid.  I was so very pleased.  It would be the finest piece in Union’s collection.  I brought it home and had carefully unwrapped it and showed my wife.  The next morning I was eating my cereal in the quiet of our kitchen.  The tea bowl was sitting across the kitchen.  I retrieved it and set it in front of me to admire it.  It was so beautiful, wood fired, burned to deep red chocolate brown with finger marks forever burned in place.  I had set it down next to a small clay cup that my wife had randomly filled with buttercups from our yard.  My eyes kept leaving my prize and lingering on the delicate flower, the purity of the yellow and the tiny stamens.  Finally I gave up and just gratefully lingered over the buttercups.

When Jesus spoke of “the lilies of the field” I imagine He might of briefly thought of me this morning.

It didn’t diminish my prize, Union still owns a Paul Soldner.  It just had the misfortune to be sat next to the gifts of The Devine.