The Vanity of Vanity

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Do not love the world or anything in the world.        I John 2: 15a

It was a typical morning. Marty was sipping his coffee and checking his phone for the day’s news stories. I was sipping my coffee and getting ready to take the dog on his morning walk. This was the time I usually prayed, as the early morning solitude was perfect for talking to God, my phone got left at home, and the dog was happy, thinking I was talking to him. It was also typical that a multitude of things were vying for my attention. Of course, since I was still sipping my coffee, I thought I may as well take a quick look at my emails – checking for prayer requests.

Off at the side of the screen an image flashed of an absolutely gorgeous dress. If not the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, it was definitely in the top five. Royal blue (my color!), neither tight nor baggy, just flowing gracefully. The model even had my hair, so if I blurred my eyes or covered her face with my thumb, I could see myself wearing that amazing garment to the next wedding. Or ball. Or coronation…

Desire took hold. I showed the picture to Marty, whose opinions on women’s fashion is usually somewhere between indifferent and comatose, and even he did a double take and said, “You should get it!” without even knowing the price. As it was, the dress was on sale, and the price ridiculously low. I would gladly have paid three times that much. I knew the dog (not to mention the Lord) was waiting, but I thought, This will just take a minute, and clicked onto the site.

Of course, the “just a minute” takes a little longer if you have to set up an account, but I typed in my name and email address and created a password at record speed. I then went on to place the order but was told that the password I had just entered and confirmed was “invalid.” After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, I clicked on “Forgot my password” to have them send me what they thought it was, only to be told that my email address was also invalid. By this time my mood was, shall we say, not exactly prayerful?

Then the Holy Spirit, or maybe it was just the voice of common sense, told me that my prayer time had again been sabotaged, and I was getting emotionally upset over not possessing a dress that an hour ago I had no idea existed!

My prayer time that day included some meditation on the sin of vanity.

Prayer: Lord, we are so easily distracted by the world and its “treasures.” Help us to set our minds on You and to have the divine perspective to know that true treasures come from You. In the name of Jesus, the greatest Treasure of all. Amen.

Published by seekingdivineperspective

I am a forgiven sinner and adopted child of God, seeking to see life from His perspective - as opposed to the world's flawed perspective - and living my life accordingly.

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17 thoughts on “The Vanity of Vanity”

  1. What a wonderful story. Thanks for the reminder.

    But I want that dress, too! It sounds perfect for me. Where can I find it? 😀

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  3. That was a beautiful shared story Ann and I thank you for sharing it. I wonder how many times a day we all do that. What amazes me is that in spite of our short comings, our humanness if you will, God in His mercy and grace still can get through to us because we are His, which really grabs my heart. How beautiful that He can do that to us. Just so you know, I L O V E walking and saying my prayers too! That shared story just confirms again, that you are His. It’s kind of like the same sweater that we all wear. God’s grace, peace and blessings to you and yours. – Bruce

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    1. As it turned out, I got suspicious later about the low price. And when I found out the company was in China, with no address or phone number that I could find, it was definitely fishy. They were charging less for the dress than what I paid to ship a soccer ball to some orphans in Africa – and they were offering “free shipping.” So, no, I never bought the dress, although if I ever find out the legitimate origin of the picture, I’d definitely consider it.

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