I was on a mission.
My husband had taken the kids on a walk and I had a few minutes to race through the house cleaning and picking up all of the items which seemed to cover every square inch of floor.
I became a veritable “Mommy Tornado”!
Nothing was safe as I worked my way up the stairs and followed the trail of Legos leading to my son’s room.
The epicenter of the mess.
As I looked around the room my eyes landed on his dresser which was strewn with every kind of knick-knack you could imagine.
I started shoving things into drawers and bins not really caring if it landed in the right one.
I just wanted it out of sight.
Where on earth did all of this stuff come from?
Here were rocks, there were little slips of paper and an acorn or two thrown in for good measure.
I knew why they were in his room.
You see, in my son’s case, one man’s trash literally IS another man’s treasure!
Each of these items was intended to be stored away in the most sacred of places.
His Treasure Drawer.
Ticket stubs, batteries, coins, a leather pouch filled with “gold”, pieces of broken toys.
I began going through that drawer looking for items which could possibly be extracted without my son noticing. And I wondered why he had chosen those particular things.
What was it about the particular piece of bark from the playground that caught his eye?
Why was that string so valuable to him?
And I just couldn’t bring myself to throw anything out.
These are all cherished items.
They represent something.
Something he wants to remember.
Something he wants to hold onto.
And it got me thinking.
What am I holding onto?
What can I not let go of?
What is in my “treasure drawer”?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” Matthew 6:19-21
I know I have a lot of earthly treasures.
I have a home I love and I enjoy making it warm and welcoming.
In that home are many things I value, things which have been passed down from generation to generation. And as grateful as I am for those things, I’m sure that I can’t fully appreciate just how tremendously blessed I really am. Until you have truly gone without, I don’t think you can grasp the magnitude of how much you really have to be thankful for.
But, to be honest, I don’t struggle as much with the “storing up” of those things in my heart.
It is what, or rather WHO, lives inside my home that I want to hide away in my treasure drawer.
There are 3 of them, and they are my treasures.
They are where my heart is.
They consume my thoughts and make up the bulk of my worries and fears.
I hold onto them tightly and begin to think that somehow I can control everything.
I “store up” this control until it paralyzes me to think of something ever happening to my treasures. What if the “moth and rust” seep in? What if “thieves break in and steal”?
What if?
What if?
What if?
And yet, they aren’t really mine, are they?
They belong to the One who loves them even more than I do.
A love like that seems impossible to imagine.
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19
They are really His treasures!
So, I pray for His help in releasing my grip.
I pray that what I “store up” in my heart is a deeper and more abiding love for Him.
And that I will recognize that they never were my treasures to begin with.
They are gifts!
Gifts given to me to cherish while we are here on this earth.
Gifts of which I am only really just a steward.
Gifts which I treasure having in my life.
Thanks for joining me on this Simply Sunday at the Fence,
Sharing this here:
I’m missing church today so this was a post intended for me. You have written about what is truly important in our lives. I’m glad you didn’t throw out his things.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Have a great Sunday.
Such a perfect post and so important to remember that these are truly gifts and treasures at the same time, but they don’t belong to us, just here for us to love. Have a fabulous Sunday. Hugs, Marty
Great post and what an adorable family you have:)
Those words from Matthew 6:19-21 were written there for this Very purpose… The Lord knows are frame and our weaknesses and He so desires us to remember where are True Treasure is… And that’s with Him… Thank you for this inspiring post and may your SONday be blessed.
Beautiful post! Thank you for sharing from your heart. We have so much when we have our health and our family.
xo
Pat
P.S. Your son’s treasures are so special to him…I’m glad you didn’t toss any of them.
Oh Vanessa!! This post is so amazingly beautiful. I love, love, love your insight and the love you openly share for your family and Him.
Vanessa, thank you for posting on this Sunday. I love to read encouraging thoughts from women who share the same values as I . We really need to take that time to focus on exactly what and where our treasures are. I don’t know about you but I am the queen of getting off track. Thanks for you post.
I just love your Sunday posts. They are always so inspirational and always make me pause and think. It’s so important to not lose sight of what is really important. Thank you for the time you spent inspiring me and so many others.
Beautiful, beautiful post Vanessa!
Stacy
Vanessa,
We loved your post and the darling picture. Our four grandchildren are truly our treasures on this earth.
Mom and Dad
Your post is so beautiful and so inspiring. Truly, a home is who lives in it. Can’t get enough of this post
What an absolutely beautiful post, Vanessa !! You have such an eloquent way with words which truly make one stop and think. Thank you for the well-timed true reminder, friend. And, PS: Jax has a drawer JUST like this!
What an absolutely beautiful post, Vanessa !! You have such an eloquent way with words which truly make one stop and think. Thank you for the well-timed true reminder, friend. And, PS: Jax has a drawer JUST like this!
Oh, wow Vanessa–you’ve touched a nerve here! We all like it when we’re reminded to treasure our loved ones over our material possessions, or our goals, or our lists of things to do. Oh, yes, we like to get that reminder. But to be reminded that these “treasures” of ours are not really ours at all, and we need to be treasuring God even more than our precious loved ones?!? I’m not sure we want to hear that. And yet it’s true. Thank you for the reminder to entrust ALL our treasures to God!
Beautiful post. Thanks for sharing.
Oh Vanessa, I’m so behind in blog land that I nearly missed this. Something told me to scroll a little further back, and I am so glad I did.
This is beautiful, and I understand every syllable completely. I have the same treasure and the same tendency to forget that it’s not mine to begin with but entrusted to me by One who treasures them even more than I possibly can.
Inconceivable.
And yet so true.
This was a completely inspired post and one of my favorites in the two years I’ve been lurking about in blog land.
And you have one beautiful little family.