The Silversmith

While clearing out my email I came across this story. I hope you find it as hopeful as I did. The message is very much a Christian message, and that is the faith into which I was born and continue to profess and believe in.

Author Unknown

There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of 
Malachi.  As they were studying chapter three they came across 
verse three which says, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of 
silver.” This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what 
this statement meant about the character and nature of God. 

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining 
silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That 
week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment 
to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the 
reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the 
process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held 
a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, 
in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of 
the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the 
impurities. 

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot – 
then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner 
and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that 
he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver 
was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had 
to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on 
the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was 
left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. 

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the 
silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”  
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s the easy part — 
when I see my image reflected in it.” 

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God 
has His eye on you and will keep His hand on you and watch 
over you until He sees His image in you.

Class Reunion

Read & Listen

One after another nine of the stories from my short story collection, Twelve Roses for Love, are being featured by Vachi Audiobooks. This is a unique and refreshing way to listen to or read-along as a story unfolds. As one listener said to me, just close your eyes and let the words flow directly into your mind.

This story presents a mystery. Anita, the main character in our story, has nurtured a soft spot for her old school friend, Jake for many years. He was her secret love. Now, ten years later she is being invited to join the class reunion. She’s apprehensive. Life has been a bit hard on her and although she was once the school beauty she has let herself go. Now, she doesn’t want to attend the reunion for fear that they’ll tease her for putting on weight. And, for fear that Jake, who once seemed to care for her, may not care for her any more.

She meets him… or does she? You decide. Is he for real or a figment of her imagination?

Watch and listen:

A third rose on YouTube

In Twelve Roses for Love I wanted to highlight not only romantic love but love in so many different ways. This story addresses the all-important issues of ‘self-love’. Confident, happy people are often unaware that their very confidence and that glow of being comfortable in their own skins stems from the fact that they are loved.

This is supposed to be a natural phenomenon. But it’s not as common as we believe. I have read of, heard of, listened one-on-one to people who haven’t been nurtured in that beautiful cocoon of parental and familial love that some of us take for granted. And this was the background to the story that grew from a poem I initially wrote about domestic violence. I had read many cases of how abused young women try and cover up their bruises with make-up.

At that time I had taken up the challenge of writing a poem-a-day and the prompt was ‘Dark Lipstick’. A short poem was born on this subject. Later, I explored the sentiment of the poem and made it a bit longer for Womania, a winter festival in Bahrain in 2019, created by a friend who runs a PR, communications and advertising company called CreaTree Services. The event was developed to highlight the need for women’s empowerment.

Finally, when I was sorting through various short stories that I have written over the years, to include in Twelve Roses for Love, I came upon this poem. I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘Hmmm, self love, I really should have a story that talks about that.’ This story grew from that poem. You can read or listen to it here.

Nine Roses on YouTube!

This is a small collection of twelve widely different stories that are all about love – not all of them romantic love. There’s the love that grows between sisters, a story about a woman who learns to love herself, the deep abiding love of an older couple, and so much more.

Courtesy a friend and Vachi Audiobooks nine of these stories are now being featured on their YouTube Channel as audio stories with a ‘read-along’ capability. There’s one story: First Impression, First Love that contains a riddle. Listen to it carefully or read it in my book, available on Amazon as both a Kindle and paperback here.

To visit the Vachi Audiobook YouTube channel, click this.

There’s an additional incentive for the story First Impression, First Love. If you can “get” what the story is really about, I will give the first five correct replies a prize – a personalised poem created exclusively for you or a special someone. Now wouldn’t that make an unusual stocking-stuffer for Christmas?