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The other day, I was strolling through South Coast Plaza when I stopped in my tracks, and grabbed DH’s hand to pull him into the Bally store. For those of you who aren’t purse fanatics, Bally has only recently caught the eye of fashion mavens, now earning the title by some as the "biggest fashion turnaround in the century." And apparently, the snagging of Brian Atwood is one of the most talked-about awe-inspiring forces behind the Big Bally Revolution. So I heard.

I heard, but now, I saw. Big, black and glossy, with rich tortoise-lucite handles and wonderfully thick and smooshy was an amazing…

. creature of a bag unlike anything I had seen. It was so chic yet elegant and understated despite its patent DNA that I couldn’t help but wonder – am I really in the right store?

As beautiful as it was, I gave it my usual three-day sleep rule – sleep on it, and in three days, if I am still thinking about it (or in some cases, losing sleep over it), then it’s made to be mine.  Unfortunately for me and the bag, but fortunately for DH, within 48 hours I was already looking for the Fendi Doctor F tote that I had missed the last time around.  The three-day sleep rule works well, not just because of buyer’s remorse, or because I hate having to make returns, but more because sometimes, you want to really know how much you want it, and it’s not just in the heat of the moment.

My pastor said something similar the other day. He said that one cannot expect our prayers to be answered unless you pray with tenacity, and you are relentless. One of the reasons he noted for this, was because God wants to know whether or not your seeking him is from a deep longing or just a whim. I admit, I did look a bit sheepish thinking about how this wise reasoning coincided with my designer bag-purchasing habits, but strangely (and I hope I will not be hit with lightning for saying this), I get it.  When in the well-lit store with the pouch of crinkled patent sparkling against the spotless wall mirrors, it is so hard to differentiate between a whim and a three-day-rule-passing item worthy of purchase.  Just like sometimes, when we pray, we don’t know that prayer for humility, patience, grace, guidance, is what we really want, until we find ourselves coming to our knees day after day.