This, and one like it, waited patiently while I searched for information. My listing description eventually included the name and country of origin - also, another appealing tidbit - this was a wedding dress embellishment! A sense of accomplishment accompanied the final "submit listing". Another mystery solved!
Until the next day...
When my inbox held a message that referenced my freshly listed Solje! The expert who had taken time to write the message revealed my research was incorrect. I would need to cancel the listing and re-write it, a change of price was in order also. A Solje is not a wedding dress embellishment, but could be a wedding gift. Somehow that information had gotten mixed up as it was passed around, a little like a child's game of "telephone", where someone whispers a phrase in her neighbors ear, and the last person in the line shouts out what they think they've heard. It is rarely the same, being changed a little each time it is shared! The true description of this lovely brooch finds it to be a part of traditional Norwegian costume. It represents the sun as you can see in the charming golden dangles.
The expert included a link to photos of the Solje being used as a costume adornment as further proof.
How often does being "close" to the truth effect what we believe about something? I believed that my brooch was one thing, while it was quite something else - leaving my auction description inaccurate. When a bit of truth - both descriptions have something to do with weddings - is included, it makes the false more believable.
At one point in my life I believed that doing good things for people would please God, and by pleasing God, I would one day be ushered in to Heaven. There is some truth to these beliefs- God is pleased when we do good things for others. Jesus commends people who have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, taken in the stranger and clothed the naked, when He states in Matthew 25:40, "...inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."
But any good deeds I may have done were not enough to guarantee my eternity in the presence of Holy God. Only Jesus Christ's sacrifice could open that door, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
So, what I initially believed about God and Heaven was inaccurate. An Expert had messaged me with the truth and I had a choice to make. I decided to get rid of my false ideas and live according to the words of the Expert...
Because anything else is just what you would expect to hear at the end of the "telephone" line - not completely accurate!
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