Use the Good China

Growing up, I remember my grandmother had a beautiful set of fine china. She also had those delicate Czech crystal glasses that were so popular at the time. They were kept carefully in a special cabinet with glass doors, almost like a little museum inside the house. We could see them, but we rarely used them.

They came out for Christmas dinner, family celebrations, or when special guests were visiting. For everyday meals, there was another set of plates, simpler, cheaper, easier to replace. The fine china was too precious to risk breaking.

Years passed. Styles changed. What had once seemed so valuable was no longer fashionable. Some pieces were given away. Some were eventually discarded. And I sometimes think how strange it is that we can spend years protecting something so carefully, only to discover that we hardly ever enjoyed it.

Sometimes we do the same thing with life.

We become so afraid of breaking something that we stop using it. We become so afraid of disappointment that we stop hoping. We avoid failure by refusing to try, and avoid being hurt by keeping others at a distance. Little by little, caution can become fear, and fear can make our world smaller.

That is why Jesus says, “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it” (Matthew 16:25). Christ is not telling us to be careless with life. Life is precious. But there is a difference between caring for life and being afraid to live it.

A crystal glass is valuable partly because it is fragile. Life is the same. Our days are precious because they do not last forever. Everything we possess can eventually crack, fade, break, or pass into someone else’s hands. Even the things we carefully preserve will one day no longer belong to us.

That is why Christ invites us to invest our lives in what cannot be broken: faith, love, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, service, and our relationship with God.

Friends, do not leave the best part of yourself locked behind glass. Use your gifts. Love generously. Serve freely. Take the risk of caring. Say the words that need to be said. Give while you still can.

The good china was made for the table, not only for the cabinet. And life was given to us not simply to preserve, but to live.