One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. Psalm 145:4 (KJV)
I hope you’ll enjoy an excerpt from my new devotional book, God Glimpses from the Jewelry Box: Becoming Jewels God Can Use. (From BroadStreet Publishing.)
After her mother passed away, Mary received several things that meant the world to her. One was her mother’s jewelry box filled with both trinkets and valuable items. It was a box of cherished memories.
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She pulled out a long strand of colorful beads. Her mother had allowed her to play with them when she was a little girl. Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered her mother’s sweet voice saying, “Mary, you look beautiful. I want you to remember something for the rest of your life. You’ll always be my princess. You are special to me and to God.”
Mary pulled a set of cuff links from the jewelry box. They’d belonged to her daddy. She smiled as she remembered Sunday mornings from her childhood when she’d sat on the bed and helped her daddy place them in the cuffs of his white dress shirt before they left for church. She could close her eyes and almost hear his deep voice saying, “Mary-girl, always wear your best for Jesus.”
Mary opened another drawer in the jewelry box, and there was her grandfather’s pocket watch. Mary’s daddy would sometimes let her hold it, but she wasn’t allowed to play with it. He’d shared the history of the pocket watch with her, telling her it had been a gift from his great-grandfather, a present accompanied with these words, “Time is one of your most precious gifts. Spend it on God and your family.”
She opened the hidden drawer in the jewelry box and pulled out another special treasure—her mother’s pearls. Mary’s daddy had given them to her mother on their wedding day, a symbol of his love for her. Mary had worn them on her own wedding day, stroking their silky texture right before her daddy walked her down the aisle. He’d leaned over and kissed her just before they walked through the doors, and he’d said, “Put God first in your marriage, Mary-girl, and you and Bobby will be just fine.”
Those pearls and that pocket watch were the most valuable things dollar-wise in her mother’s jewelry box. Her parents had never had a lot of money. As Mary sorted through her mother’s treasures that day, she realized that along with the contents of that jewelry box, they’d left her a far more valuable inheritance—they’d left her memories of faith, of love, and of loved ones who had walked with God and put Him first in their lives.
Someday Mary would get to share those stories and hand those heirloom pieces down to her own children. She loved the continuity of that—from generation to generation. But even more, she wanted to hand down the priceless gift of faith her parents had given her.
Dear God, help me to remember that the real treasures are the ones that come from you.
Michelle Cox is a speaker and the bestselling author of Just 18 Summers, God Glimpses from the Jewelry Box, and God Glimpses from the Toolbox. Visit her at GodGlimpses.com and www.Just18Summers.com. You can follow her at Michelle Cox Inspirations on Facebook and on Twitter @michelleinspire.