More Than Rubies

We, as humans, like to evaluate everything in life.  We learn from birth to attach a certain value to things.  We attach price tags to everything.  We weigh and calculate everything from the physical to the spiritual according to our own and other people's standards. We even equate time with money.  Sadly, we even measure our own self-worth and usually find ourselves unworthy by the world's standards.  We judge ourselves and summarily dismiss ourselves as unworthy.  Discarded and de-valued.

However, when God evaluates us, He considers our value as far above that of rubies.  Rubies in Sanskrit are called Ratnaraj, meaning King of precious stones.  Rubies were worn by royalty and a highly sought after gem. They are valued for their stunning beauty as well as the mystical powers associated with them. They were believed to bestow success, wealth and protection as well as wisdom, and power to the wearer.  Some say that the ruby is the most precious of the twelve stones created by God.  Therefore, when the Lord says that we are more precious than rubies, we are indeed valuable. 

In Proverbs we read that a good wife's value is far more than rubies.  A woman is more valuable than a crown of precious rubies, she is an asset for above material value, priceless.  If the Lord, the Creator of all, the Creator of women, attach such a high value to us, we have no right to judge ourselves by worldly standards and label ourselves as worthless, or as not good enough.  We are good enough, we are precious and it is our duty to raise our daughters as women who acknowledge their own self-worth.  We have to teach our daughters to believe in their own worthiness, to value themselves as precious.  

Let us during this month re-evaluate ourselves through the eyes of our Maker and realize that we have been wonderfully and uniquely created.  We are extraordinary human beings and have so much to contribute to life and to our families.  Let us celebrate the beauty of being a woman.