On Being the Treasure Keeper

Instead of a normal Sunday School lesson, 

the 6th Grade Girls Department chose to do something different. 

The whole department gathered together in one large room. 

Moms and their girls were invited to be our special guests that day.

There was food with some surprise treats,

 and a different kind of lesson.

The theme for the day was Mothers and Daughters.  

A dear sweet woman spoke as the proud and excited mother of a brand new baby girl.  

and I spoke as the humble and proud mother of a grown daughter. 

The section that follows was my part of the lesson from that Mother's Day, 12 years ago:

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Being a mom is a blessing.  
Being the mother of a daughter is a treasure box full of blessings.

My daughter is not a little girl any more, but a 25 year old young woman;
and still the best girlfriend I've ever had!

I asked her to think of the things we had done over the years, 
and to come up with one thing that meant the most to her.

Her answer surprised me.  
It wasn't that I had helped her memorize scripture.  
It wasn't that we brought her up in church ... or the prayers we'd prayed with her and for her.  
It wasn't the ballet lessons or bread baking or Jane Austen movies.  
It wasn't even homeschooling!  

Her one meaningful thing was that I'd kept the "treasures" she'd given me as a child.

So, yesterday, I got out that treasure box, to look through these things that were so important to her. 

One thing for sure, these items wouldn't be the highest priced things to ever sell on Ebay!

First to get my attention was Waldo.  
probably because of the warning note inside on the top of my treasure chest: 
"Warning - Waldo lives in here now".  

A side note here...Waldo is a rubber roach that made lots of memories for our family.  We would take turns hiding him from each other.  When he was found, whoever found him was the person who would hide him next.  From the top of the refrigerator door (so he would drop down and scare the starving unsuspecting victim as they opened the fridge) to my own pocket where he showed up one afternoon since I had put him there for safe keeping...only to forget he was there. 

 I may have jumped. Quite high - I was younger then.

Having a daughter in your life is fun! Like the shoe switch she pulled off in my closet.  
One of the girls on the Middle School elevator asked, 
"Are you wearing different colored shoes?"  

When she was in school, one of her teachers said, "You must laugh a lot at your house."  

We did!
We still do.

Second was the item she had specifically mentioned to me when we talked.  
The heart shaped leaf. Really, it is a leaf that was not formed the way most leaves are.  
Some might say it is deformed, but she saw a beautiful piece of God's handiwork 
so we framed it.

She is still like that... seeing beauty where most people only see broken.  

The kind of tenderness that is pictured by the word, "mother".  

Or even as a reflection of the compassion of God Himself.

Speaking of reflecting God...

That is God's plan for us after all.

John Piper says that God does not exist to make much of us, but that we exist to make much of Him.

Max Lucado puts this thought this way, "the moon is our example".

He talks about all the beauty that the moon brings into our life, how moonlit landscapes carry such beauty, and moonlight can bring even romance.

But, as he says, the harvest moon does not shine on by itself.  
It is just a really big rock.

Yet the moon never complains about its purpose in life. 

It just reflects the sun's light and we are better for it.

We could even say we are alive because of it.

We have a great responsibility and honor 
as mothers of daughters (as well as sons) 
to be a reflection of God, 
because as we focus on Him, He changes us.

Then, as they look to us, hopefully they will pick up His reflections 
until they learn to focus their eyes on Him 
for themselves.  

II Corinthians 3:18 tells us, "Beholding in a glass (like a mirror) the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord"

(At this point, I used an object lesson with a flashlight and some mirrors.  I asked a mom to come up and hold the flashlight.  She represented God.  Another mom came to hold a mirror, and we reflected the flashlight's light into the mirror.  Then I had a middle school girl come to hold another mirror.  She reflected the light from the mother's mirror as an example of a mother's influence in the lives of her daughters.)

Today, think about all of the treasure box blessings that have come into your life 
because you have a daughter 
or because you are a daughter...

Tell you moms how thankful you are for the blessings you have shared together!

Happy Mother's Day precious girls!

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Just a quick note here - 

Please don't think my son is left out. Remember the lesson was for daughters of daughters!

Here are some of his additions to the treasures in the box.

Update on the box:

I re-used an old wooden purse that I had decoupaged many years before as a my treasure box.

 I had became inundated with small gifts that I did not want to lose, 
and decided that it would be the perfect box for these treasures from my children.
School fair prize rings, poems, church gifts, and other little trinkets.
It soon filled.
And was put away.

Until the grandchildren came along, 
and I found out they loved sitting on the floor and going through these things with me.

And there were new laughs... laughing at the things their mom and uncle had done!

Of course, that meant that Waldo started to show up again...outside of his box.

I now have a new box...a grandma's treasure box.

And Waldo will be staying there.
Complete with his warning note.

(But please, don't tell Bud!!)


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While the Bible says that the stars sing, it never says the moon laments.
There is something there to ponder...

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Want to sing with some stars and whales?
Louie Giglio with a different kind of soundtrack to How Great is Our God!