Selfish Much?

I had the blessed opportunity to help lead worship at our church's women's retreat this past weekend at Hume Lake, and it was GLORIOUS!! A wonderful time spent with family, friends, and the Lord.

If you've never been to a women's retreat before, you should know that retreat speakers sometimes sell books they've written. Sometimes they sell DVDs of other messages they've given. And SOMETIMES they sell JEWELRY!!! Oh yeah!! This year's speaker not only had books and DVDs for sale, but bling to boot! Do I hear an 'AMEN'?!

So it was lunch time on Saturday, and all of the merchandise was displayed on a table in the dining room, but was covered up until the meal was over. As soon as I saw someone walk over there and lift the veils off the beautiful bobbles, I dashed over to see what was available.

What caught my eye was a silver necklace with a blinged-out crown dangling from it. It was just what I wanted! Until, that is, I saw another silver necklace with yet a different crown hanging in the balance.

Great. How does one choose between the two?

So I held on to both for a long time, comparing them, but unable to decide. Finally I thought, I should go ask my sister which one she likes better.

I walk over and show both necklaces to my sister, and she says, "I think I like this one, but you don't have to buy me anything."

Awkward silence.

Then I said, "Um, I was actually going to buy it for myself, but couldn't decide between the two, so I came over here to get your opinion."

We had a good laugh (mostly because a rhinestone crown necklace is probably the last thing my sister would ever wear.) I then took a pole of everyone else at the table. They all (but one) agreed with my sis.

As I headed back over to the jewelry table to make my purchase, someone I'd never met before, but who apparently knew I had two daughters, stopped me and asked, "Oh! Are you getting those for your girls?"

Again. Awkward silence.

"Uh, no ... I was actually thinking of buying one of them for myself."
I kid you not ... before the transaction was complete, another person asked me if the necklaces were gifts for my daughters! Holy cow!!! Is it that selfish to buy yourself a piece of costume jewelry these days? Was I reeeally the only one buying something for themselves?

Not sure what the politically correct thing to do here was, but I did go through with the purchase FOR MYSELF (I chose the second one pictured above, for those of you who even care), and then, wouldn't you know, my mom offered to give me money to cover the cost of it, so after all that ... it ended up being a gift from HER!!

Oh, and please know that I DID make it over to the camp's gift shop before I left, to get my girls each a little gift, OKAY?! So get off my back already! ;)



By the way ... if you'd like one of these necklaces for yourself (okay, OR for one of your daughters), you can check out Nancy Stafford's jewelry collection here. A portion of the proceeds go to help Sat-7, which is a wonderful organization that you can learn more about here.