Treasures of the Heart

My son, L., is at the end of his junior year in high school. We have been discussing college prospects and gathering the information we’ll need for the endless application process. I was filling out a form that asked for his awards and achievements.

Back when L. was in kindergarten, his teacher was in this same college process with her daughter and shared a wonderful bit of wisdom. She said to start now keeping a log of the things your child does in school. Keep the log updated and in a place easy to retrieve because she had been going through boxes of past school items digging up all the awards and achievements. I took this advice to heart and began that journal. I had this same journal open in front of me listing out the required items.

My husband, D., was busy in the same room and I was sharing what I was writing. The next question was to share an anecdote about our child. I turned to another section in the journal as I also had listed things that happened to L., or things he said that I wanted to remember. I began reading many entries aloud to my husband and we marveled and wept at the swiftness of time and the things forgotten.

D. indicated my journal and said, “That holds the treasures of your heart.” He was referring to Luke 2:51, “51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” NIV

I thought that was an appropriate description of my journal. The back was a useful tool of yearly achievements and awards but the front held entries of moments from L.’s youth that I wanted to remember and treasure.

This is the first entry dated New Year’s Eve 2003:

Sitting around the table with Grandpa and Grandma, Mom and Dad and L. Five glasses of sparkling grape juice had been poured and the concept of toasting the New Year explained. We started with Grandma and went around the table leaving L. for last so he could get examples. Grandma toasted us being together, Dad health and family, Mom health and family, Grandpa 1999 (he was confused). L. thought for a moment and then asked if he could use 2001. We explained toasting the New Year but he could reference 2001. L.’s toast was “May all those people who had family die in the 9/11 have good years from now on.” Apparently, L. understood toasting better than we thought.

Do you have a place to put the treasures of your heart?