Earring Abundance Lesson

A few weeks ago, I spent a weekend with my extended family, celebrating a beloved uncle's 80th birthday. One of our events was a breakfast gathering at a local eatery.

One of my relatives makes beautiful earrings, many of them from 'found objects.' He has taken this up as a hobby and is getting quite good at it!

He makes a lot of earrings, and mostly just gives them away to the women in his life.

As we gathered around the breakfast table, he brought bags of earrings and laid them on the table in front of all of us women. He told us to take all we wanted!

I began to sort through earrings. There were so many there that I liked! I set aside the ones I liked the most, and was planning on narrowing it down to my one special pair.

I had 5 pairs of earrings on the table in front of me. My uncle, the earring maker, came by and started collecting all the 'unclaimed' earrings to put them away before our meals came.

I told him I was sorting through these 5 pairs that I liked to narrow it down. His response was, "I told you to take all you wanted! Keep them all!" I argued that I couldn't do that! I said I didn't want to be a piggy. He laughed and said, "This is why I make them... I'm just delighted that you like them so much!"

I still felt resistant. What would the other women in my family think? Earrings are one of my favorite things in the entire universe, but taking 5 pairs? I felt like I was doing something wrong, even though I was being offered 'all I wanted.'

There were enough earrings to go around. In fact, there were more than enough earrings to go around! He had at least 100 pairs of earrings there, and not very many women!

He was delighted to have me take the five pairs of earrings I had selected! Yet, I still felt I was doing something wrong by accepting what was being offered to me.

I spent some time reflecting on this, because I was a bit shocked at my reaction. Some part of me felt unworthy of accepting such a generous gift. One little pair felt acceptable, but I didn't feel deserving of 5 pairs of beautiful earrings.

I decided to graciously accept his gift, and work with myself around the feelings I had internally. I deserved those earrings. It was a gift freely offered, and I would practice accepting with open arms.

I felt a little better when I realized my mom and aunt had taken more pairs than I had!! We all ended up with a new 'ear wardrobe' that day.

I'm not advocating being selfish or greedy... not by a long shot. I am, however, suggesting that we should examine our relationship to the concepts of deservability and worthiness. Sometimes what we desire is right in front of us, and we are pushing it away because we don't feel its OK to receive it.

When life offers you a gift, freely given, grab it with both hands!

"I am open to receive. I deserve all the good that life has to offer me. I am worthy and deserving of all good things."