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What is Something Worth?

Many years ago, I lost my punch bowl in a move. . . .
I mentioned it to my sister and asked her to keep her eye open for one if she came across a good deal.   She phoned me one day to say “I found a punch bowl at a garage sale.   I picked it up for you if you still want one.   I paid five dollars for it.   The only problem is that its blue.”
I paid her for it and it really was quite lovely – even though it was ‘blue’.
Who would make a blue punch bowl anyway?   And why?   It makes your red punch look brown.
Still, we used it when we had company.   I would ask one of the kids to “go down and get the punch bowl“.   It started out with twelve cups but sadly, one got broken.   And the ladle is long since disappeared.   But life happens right? 

Some time later I happened to be browsing in an antique store and found the identical set.   Priced at almost $400 Cdn.  !!!   Whoah!   It is surprising how a little education can change one’s perspective.

When I thought it was worth five dollar I sent the kids to retrieve it, I let the kids wash it.  Suddenly I was saying “Don’t touch the punch bowl!  I will get it.”   In actual fact it was an INDIANA CARNIVAL GLASS Blue Harvest Grape Punch bowl set.   Popular when my grandmothers were setting up housekeeping, although neither of them had anything like it.

Even though it was the same punch bowl set, I became a little more invested in it.   A little more stressed out about ‘the kids bringing it up stairs’.   What if it dropped?   What if …. heaven forbid, another cup got broken?   Although I always take good care of things, I began to take especially good care of this punch bowl.   I began washing it personally and carefully.   I dried it personally and carefully.   . . . . .
What made the difference?   The punches I served in it still tasted the same, still a little strangely coloured because of the blue glass.   The same.   Outwardly nothing had changed.  The only thing that had changed was one little piece of information that I hadn’t been aware of before.   Information that had always been true – I just didn’t know about it.   A detail that involved somebody else’s perspective.  . . . .  IT had not changed.   I changed.   My understanding changed.   And that changed my behaviour.

It remains a good analogy to me of many things,  but mostly to contemplate what I might be worth, considering the high price my Saviour paid for me.   At some points in my life – I may have convinced myself I was only worth five dollars, and if that was true, then clearly I didn’t need nor deserve special care.   But the fact is, someone paid a very high price for me – whether I understood it or not.   Whether I even accepted it or not.   That price was so great that it caused Him “to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit”. (D&C 19:18)   His love for me was so great that He willingly took my name personally through the sacred temple of Gethsemane.   I imagine Him gently washing my wounds and drying my tears.   Personally.   And carefully.   Because my ‘worth’ to Him, is a very ‘Personal’ thing.

My punch bowl sits in an honoured place now.   In my kitchen.   Behind a glass door, where I see it often.   And it speaks to me.   Of mistaken identity.   Of inherent value.   Of Divine Nature.   Of the sacred worth of souls. . . . .
I imagine myself – a Blue Indiana Carnival Glass punch bowl set.   Sadly, one of my cups is broken, and my ladle is long since disappeared. . . .

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

6 Replies to “What is Something Worth?”

  1. The people cheered, but some of them cried,
    “We do not quite understand.
    What changed its worth?” Swift came the reply:
    “The touch of the Master’s hand.”
    And many a man with life out of tune,
    And battered and scarred with sin,
    Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
    Much like the old violin.

    1. I love it Diane! Good reference. Value is all in the eye of the beholder isn’t it?
      And others’ opinions can be strongly affected. Just goes to show us how important it is to stand up and speak to the value we see.

  2. Things we inherit from our loved family mean so much more to us than to other people.
    The value of things we find when shopping is determined by the age, the popularity and the number of remaining pieces, determined by auction houses and sellers who sell things mainly for large companies who live off the proceeds. The value goes down the less they sell. However, if you can’t find what you used to be able to find it means not enough people were buying it. Thus we loose the freedom to choose what we want because it is no longer available to us. Not because it no longer exists (in most cases) but because the supplier isn’t making enough money on it and stops buying if from the manufacturer. This is a sad situation, but perhaps if we can still find it on line and can afford the shipping then we can still purchase those things we like.
    Just a comment on what is happening in our modern times.

    1. I bet she’s got some lovely pieces Chisa.
      Carnival glass started out being a very economical (even cheap) way to have pretty things during a time when families didn’t have a lot of disposable income.
      It wasn’t rare or even hard to come by. Quite the opposite. But eventually (as with most things) it gave way to more modern ‘fancies’. And now that its not so common, its become popular again.
      Funny how fickle people can be.

      Punch bowls it seems, really are a relic of the past. Anyone who entertained had one. I used to use this one all the time, but find its more convenient to use a jug with a spigot now.
      One that doesn’t make the punch look ‘brown’ LOL. But its still a favourite piece. Mostly because of what it has come to represent to me.

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