A Gem of a Day

I don’t think I’m a very fun museum companion.
I end up getting sucked into one or two exhibits and don’t make it to the rest of the museum—at least not in proper timing.
That’s what happened today at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences when I stumbled across the mineral rocks and gems exhibit.
I read every description of every display case and carefully identified the mineral rock that went with every number of the exhibit and went on to determine my favorite mineral of each box.
I discussed my thoughts with my friends and sometimes with strangers and when I got confused about my facts I went back and read the information again.
Then I discussed it again.
Then I located every mineral name that I could remember on the periodic table shirts in the gift shop.
I remember beryllium and chromium most vividly.

Here are the two most interesting things I learned today, though:

Gems aren’t gems until mineral rocks are cut and polished by a lapidary.
(I threw that last part in because I think the word lapidary is funny ).
Therefore: When one goes gem mining in the mountains, she is really not gem mining but mineral rock mining with the hope of having said mineral rocks transformed into gems.

Many mineral rocks are similar in their essence.
What makes them different colors are the different pollutants introduced into the systems.

Let’s take a moment to think about these two facts:
Mineral rocks sometimes get their identity and raw beauty from pollutants—things that we often consider bad.
Then gems become gems when these polluted rocks are made subject to a lot of work done by an outside force.

I may have stayed at the mineral rock and gem exhibit for a super long time today,
And my museum companions may have started lunch without me,
But I walked away extremely grateful that what man can do with mineral rocks,
God can do with us.

Obviously, I am a really big fan of gems and mineral rocks—
which, by the way, North Carolina is blessed with a plethora of—
But I’m an even bigger fan of the God who made both them and us
and then brought us all together.