One Box

One box. That's all I took away from my childhood home. One box full of memories. One box full of things, to be honest, that just went right back on shelves or in boxes at my home with my husband. I went through more boxes than just this one. Threw away bags of "trash." Donated items that will probably not find new homes, but more likely, their own place in another dumpster. Stuff. The stuff of childhood. The stuff of memories. Stuff that I once thought mattered.

I saved many things growing up. I culled away as I grew older. I parted ways with my stuffed animals. Donated my collection of McDonald Happy Meal toy Barbies. Gave away my plastic horses. All that mattered, but I managed to part with it. But there was still other stuff. Trinkets. Matchbox cars. Books I thought I might give to a child of my own, if I had one some day. 

I got rid of most of that stuff as I packed my final box. I did save books my grandparents gave me so I can give them to my niece. I scanned the 16th birthday card those same grandparents made for me. I kept high school newspaper clippings, but those too, will probably soon find the recycle bin.

I did manage to reconnect with some high school friends by scanning and sharing the newspaper clippings. That was worth something. Maybe someday, I'll look through the yearbooks I brought home. Those really mattered to me when I forked over my cold, hard-earned cash for them, but they matter less now.

Alistair Begg (2021) writes about what matters in his Truth for Life devotional. “What do you most care about? Asks God. Your home? Your possessions? Your tech gadgets? Or the people in your streets who do not know Jesus?” (p. 238). I will be honest. Stuff still matters to me. That's why I brought that one box home. But considering how much stuff I have let go of over the years, I need to focus on what really matters, not that I don't give thanks for my stuff, but that I focus most on true salvation in Jesus, and sharing and living that out.

One day, my body will go in the ground. That one box will hold my DNA, until all of it decomposes and mixes with the earth from which God formed mankind. My spirit, however, will live on. It will live on with Jesus. I want that message to be the one that lingers on after me and all my stuff is gone. There is a Savior. His name is Jesus. His Father God created this world and all the stuff that is in it, but the only thing that really matters is eternal life, and once received, living out its message of eternal hope through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Reference:

Begg, A. (2021). Truth for life: 365 daily devotions. Good Book Company.