SOME THINGS REQUIRE TRUE SACRIFICE -- A PARABLE BY ME

PURE RED RUBY GLASS WITH GOLDEN PEAR RELIEF

Hand Painted design of a golden pear & a purple plum combined with autumn leaves, and accented with 22k gold on pure ruby red glass.  

9.5 INCHES HIGH            $150.00  (Not for sale)

The design above is an introduction to a fairly deep conviction that I have developed over the years based on the ingredients that it takes to make bright red glass. 

There is a mythological story about how a Venetian glass maker had been trying for years to make red glass.  He, like other Venetian glass makers could not solve the problem.  They were making extremely prized glass designs in every color, but the secret of making red glass escaped them.  One day, as the story goes, the glass maker could not locate his prized gold watch.  As precious as it was for being gold, it was even more of a treasure since it had been passed on to him from his grandfather.  In his agitation, he looked in every nook and cranny and found it lying where he did not have the habit of placing it, near the cauldron of the liquid glass.  He had to bend to pick it up from the low table surrounding the cauldron.  As he was straightening up, his apprentice walked by in back of him and their bodies brushed together.  This startled the older man and in his disturbed state, he dropped his gold watch into the cauldron.  When he recovered from the shock, he noticed that the molten glass had turned bright red.  Imagine the pot-pourri of emotions that he must have felt.  Imagine what you would have experienced in a similar situation. 

This story is not scientifically correct.  Not even historically accurate.  Although gold is a necessary ingredient to make the highest quality red glass, pure gold will not do the trick.  It takes gold chloride to make it happen.  But for what it is worth, Gold is Gold.

I heard this story from my grandfather and I never forgot it.  I came to know the scientific part later in life.  But the moral part, I learned from the great man who told me the story to begin with.  It takes a large investment to get a large return.  It takes gold to generate more gold.  If you keep your gold in your pocket, it will only serve you by giving you the bragging rights to having a gold nugget to carry around. You have to risk it to gain from it.

As we know from the gospel, the ways of the world dictate that "to those who have much, much will be given and to those who have little, little will be given."  The ways of Heaven however, beckon us to give much in order to receive much.  The ways of the world operate on the gold standard; the ways of Heaven have only one standard also, the personal effort put forth in the vineyard of God.  To those who give much, much will be given.  To know how much, check the crucifix.