As you all know, I’m a big thrifter. One of the things I love the best about what I do is the treasure hunting aspect of it– finding a valuable item mixed in with all of the junk is a real thrill for me.
I guess you could say that one of my skills is identifying value even in an unlikely place like a thrift store.
I even seem to be able to do it with people: I tend to befriend the little and broken but still good people out there (with credit to Stitch 🌈✨).
And as far as thrifting goes, I’ve had some pretty good scores over the years, because people don’t always know what they have.
Like, a couple years ago at Savers I found a boxed The Last Unicorn statue sitting mixed in the collectibles section, which I probably don’t need to tell you usually isn’t anything particularly collectible. In fact, a lot of times I skip this section because it’s filled with nothing but creepy porcelain dolls and overpriced Norman Rockwell plates imported directly from China and then hawked on HSN before they wind up abandoned at the thrift store.
But for whatever reason, that particular day I happened to go down that aisle, and I about fell over when I saw the box with the Lady Amalthea artwork peeking out at me.
It wasn’t even in a place of prominence on the shelf. It was shoved on one of the bottom shelves that people don’t even bother to look at most of the time.
On top of that, this particular Savers is always absolutely packed to the gills with people swarming everywhere for the entirety of Normie Visiting Hours™ (this is what I call anytime between the hours of approximately 10 AM to 7 PM when the normies are out in full force doing their shopping and whatever else it is that normies do 😸). And it was about 8 PM when I stopped in, which meant that hundreds of people had walked by it at that point and never even noticed it by the time it went in my cart.
It was marked $5.49, but I listed it on eBay and a couple of months later it sold for just under $500.
And all because I knew what it was when the other people around me didn’t.
And maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but yesterday morning while I was praying and seeking God, I was feeling pretty bad about myself. A lot of times I tend to beat myself up, and think I have nothing of any importance or value to offer to people.
I seem to get ignored a lot, and overlooked, like I’m the human version of thrift store junk. I have a lot of wisdom and things to share but most of the time it seems like no one takes the time to engage with me about anything, like I’m just speaking into the void.
And I know that’s all part and parcel of being a prophet, but sometimes it still hurts, you know?
But then I remembered that Last Unicorn statue, and how no one there at the thrift store knew its value.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t valuable though.
It just needed to be in a different place, so it could be seen and appreciated for what it was. And it also needed someone to recognize its value, just like God recognizes my value in spite of how most people treat me.
And maybe I haven’t found the right place for myself yet, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place where I will be valued and appreciated.
Instead it means I need to keep trying to share my wisdom and God’s heart with people. Especially the little and broken but still good ones.
And if all else fails, I guess I can just list myself on eBay, right? 😅