Create Your Own Book of Treasures

 

Like apples of gold in settings of silver,
Is a word spoken at the proper time.

- Proverbs 25:11  

Because I lost my mother at an early age, reaching the ripe old age of seventy last year was a bit of a triumph. Now that my father is gone, the realization has hit - as my brother recently told me - our generation is "queued up" to be next at the finish line. A rough patch of health issues and family trials has me understanding a lot more about my dad's penchant for nostalgia and his wistful recounting of the old days. I know now why my mother wept for her daddy years after he was gone. 

The love never dies. 

Many times I've longed to revisit the familiar and gentler days in my own life, vignettes dipped in gold, rough edges mercifully softened by time. God is the faithful editor of our life story. He covers the sins, redeems the failures, and restores the brokenhearted. 

I yearn for those I've lost along the way, some of whom are still alive. Others, like my parents, are gone but left a rich heritage behind. My father gave me Mother's study notebooks after her death in 1994, simple spiral-bound notebooks you can find in most discount stores. Along with the careful Bible notes she kept in her beautiful handwriting I found random notes on stray pages: a long-lost phone number, a prayer request from a fellow church member, a grocery list. Orphan Scripture references. 

Notes from daily life recorded in the moment.

Some were quotes or memorable statements of others that had touched her enough to write down, ones like this: 

God accepts you the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.

Those books are among my treasures. They are living testaments to the essence of the woman, touching her soul, remembering her spirit, teaching me from beyond the grave. Now that I'm officially an old person, I realize the importance of sharing our hearts with the people we love. 

Give the gift of your soul for those you leave behind.

Last Christmas, my thoughtful eldest daughter gave me a lovely journal. It is a vintage red leather. The color is dark and distressed to appear aged. The blank pages inside have a appearance of being very old, like in the kind of book you might find in a Hobbit library. It's almost too special to write in. I've decided to make it my Book of Treasures. In it I plan to write moments and Scriptures and where my soul is on any given day. Things I want to remember and yearn for my children to know.

This kind of treasure can be just as easily immortalized in a dollar store notebook. Like humans, the gold is not always evident by the outside appearance. It doesn't matter what it looks like on the surface. 

Keeping a journal doesn't have to be lengthy or hard. 

Just write. Small moments. Stray Scriptures that speak to you. Memorable quotes. Events like the baby's first tooth, burying a beloved pet, or saying hello to a new one. Write your spouse's tears or your child's smile and what you cherish about them. One sentence will do. You don't have to be eloquent or wordy.

Share your soul, your spirit, your joys with those who will follow and will need to hear your voice, even if it is from beyond the veil. You never know when your words can give life and hope to someone who desperately needs it.

As hard as it may be for you to imagine now, one day it will become their book of treasures.

Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.

- Matthew 13:52 ESV