Article August 8, 2011 ISSUE

Untarnished

By Shelly Richardson

I’d had an old brassy-looking necklace with a locket in my jewelry box for years. Someone along the way had lost track of its value, because it ended up in a garage sale junk box. Some of its links were missing, so I never wore it. Finally I took it to a jeweler for repair. He told me the necklace was 18K gold and worth hundreds of dollars. No brass at all.

Now I have a new favorite necklace—not because it’s worth money, but because it’s given me an important insight into the nature of my spiritual identity. The necklace was always 18K gold, even when I thought it was brassy and cheap.