That Ugly Green Dress Is Worth WHAT??????

Hideous?  Yes, I agree, but for some reason this gaudy avocado green dress caught my eye.  You see, I have a confession to make.  I am an eBay addict.  I started selling on eBay a little over a year ago and now I am addicted.  I buy vintage and name brand things at the thrift store or garage sales and turn around and sell them on EBay.  It is so much fun.  It has funded a trip to Disneyland, bought all of last years and this years Christmas presents, paid for airline tickets for our whole family to Phoenix, and a whole lot more.  I really enjoy doing it and my eyes are always on the look out for things that might sell.  One time I bought my daughter, India, a gift from the store and when we got home she had a very sad look on her face.  When I asked why she was sad she told me it was because she didn't want me to sell her toy on EBay!  I guess I can go overboard at times.

On Wednesday, I went "EBay shopping" to one of my favorite places, The Goodwill Outlet.  This is the last chance for thrift store items to sell before they get recycled.  This place is an eBayer's dream.  There are huge blue bins full of merchandise.  Nothing has price tags.  Nothing is sorted.  Everything is thrown into these bins and you dig through to find "treasure".  You load up your cart and you are charged by the pound!  Last time I went I had over 60 lbs. worth of stuff to sell.

This place is a madhouse.  Every 2 hours they take out all of the old blue bins and bring in brand new ones.  They make everyone stand behind a line painted on the floor while they are doing it.  When all of the new bins have been brought out the manager says some announcement about no running or pushing, but no one can hear him because everyone is running and pushing to grab all of the good stuff first.  It's insane!

This brings me to the hideous green dress.  I found it in one of the bins.  No one was pushing or running to get it first because lets face it - it's ugly!  I don't know why I decided to toss it in my cart.  Maybe because it looked vintage.  Maybe because when you pay by the pound I would only be paying a few cents for it.  I could just toss it out if it wasn't worth anything.  I went ahead and bought it along with about 59 pounds of other stuff.

The next day I sat down to list all of the items that I had bought.  When I looked up the brand of the dress, Paganne, I was shocked to see how much their dresses were selling for.  I was expecting $15 maybe $20, but all of the dresses by this designer were selling in the hundreds!  WHAT???  And I discovered that the dresses that were signed by the designer sold for even more.  I frantically searched the dress for a signature and guess what?  It was signed!!

Who would have thought that this ugly, hideous dress was worth something?  Not me!

This morning I was reading my devotions and I came upon this passage.

1Corinthians 1:25-29

  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

 

This dress is not valuable because of its beauty. It is not valuable because of its material - its made of polyester.  The reason that this hideous dress is valuable is because it has the signature of its maker.

 

I am so thankful that God uses the base, seemingly worthless things and puts His signature on them.  It is not our flesh that can accomplish great things, but it His hand writing His name upon our lives.  This way all the glory can go to the designer, Jesus Christ!

 

 

So blessed'

 

Rachel