Paperclip Faith

A paperclip on a hot, asphalt parking lot.

“Life is like a paperclip, you have to bend yourself in circles to hold on to what you know.” 

~Laurie Beth Jones~

            My daughter texted: “What’s the meaning behind the paperclip?”

            Awww, she remembers, I thought.

            Years ago, there was a time when it seemed as though anywhere I went I found a paperclip on the ground, the sidewalk, a parking lot, the floor of the grocery store, the bank, the school, the church - EVERYWHERE! At supper one night, I asked my kids and husband, "Do y’all find paperclips everywhere you go???”

            They all looked at me as if I had four eyes and said, “It’s okay, Mama. Just eat something or drink some water. You’re probably just hungry, or dehydrated, or delirious, or maybe a little nuts!”

            A few weeks later, I was reading Laurie Beth Jones’ Jesus in Blue Jeans and ran across her quote: “Life is like a paperclip, you have to bend yourself in circles to hold on to what you know.”

            Ah-ha! I’m not crazy! There is meaning behind this madness!

“Lord, what’s up with the paperclips?” I asked.

“Break down the quote and look it up in My Book,” the Lord replied.

·      BEND: “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’  Submit (bend) therefore to God…”

(James 4:6-7)

·      HOLD ON- “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful!” 

(Heb. 10:23)

·      KNOW- “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...” 

(Phil. 3:8)

            So the next time you randomly find a paperclip (like the one I found today that is pictured above), join the “Paperclip-Faith Club" and heed God’s call to bend, hold fast, and know Him!