The Wonder of Amber

Since I got this long strand at a thrift store or garage sale, 
I'm quite sure these are NOT real amber beads.   
(Then again, who knows???)

Amber is actually a "glob" of fossilized tree resin or sap that flowed down  ancient coniferous tree trunks in ancient forests.  The sticky sap caught organic materials like drops of water, bits of moss, dirt, bark, seeds or insects. As it grew older, it hardened into a sort of nature-made plastic, and mellowed into a golden, light brown-orange color known as amber. The clearer the resin, the more perfect the color, the more full of organic materials the amber is, the more it's worth.

Amber is considered an organic gemstone--like a pearl--generated from biological processes.  It  perfectly preserves insects from decomposition.  Even their soft tissues are preserved!  In the movie, Jurassic Park, mosquitoes still had the blood of their victims inside them, sealed and kept intact forever. It's no wonder amber is a symbol of eternity--and eternal divinity.

While doing laundry at a laundromat as a young married couple, we often ran into a young woman named Amber Suzanne.  We liked the name so much that we named our youngest daughter Amber!  

The preservation of the original material within the resin is a picture to me of the eternal "preservation" God offers His children in Jesus Christ.  We are encased in Him!  Eternally preserved!  Each in our unique and personal "shape" and personality--seen by God THROUGH the Eternal Divinity of His own Son, Jesus Christ!  It's not a perfect illustration, but it's enough for me to be filled with wonder and thanksgiving for the amazing plan of God...

He chose us IN HIM  (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in his sight.  (Ephesians 1:4)