"Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift up your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom ; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity." Proverbs 2:2-7
Bone chilling fog wafted through the mysterious, ancient cobblestone streets as I made my way to school each morning in Krakow, Poland. Mists wrapped around the gray stone walls of the aged city, whispering of the hidden secrets of kings and queens who resided there through hundreds of years.
Living there during the Communist occupation meant that we could not buy much food. Meat was scarce and fresh fruit and vegetables were rare and brought into small, open-air markets only in season. But always, we could find beautifully carved wooden boxes of every size, shape and style.
Hoping that some day I would have my own cottage to fill with beauty and color, I would scan the hundreds of choices to find a distinctly crafted box that might someday find a place in my imagined future home. I was particularly drawn to the treasure chests that had keys to lock away precious letters, secrets, journals, or jewels.
Years later, when my home became a reality and little feet pattered around, my treasure chests became favorite relics in my home. Often, I would hide a verse scribbled on a piece of colored paper, some chocolate gold-covered coins, a tiny ring, bracelet, knight in shining armor, or small puzzle inside these boxes for my children to discover. Glee and intrigue would fill their hopeful little eyes as they opened the chest to see what was inside.
During a quiet time one morning, my eyes lighted upon one of my little chests and the Holy Spirit impressed me to look at the heart of my children as treasures chests. Filling the treasure chests of their hearts with truth, beauty, love, great thoughts, books and ideas, adventures, memories, traditions, wisdom, music, art, lessons, and all the good things I could imagine became a purposeful goal. I realized that I wanted to fill them with such an abundance of relics of eternal value, that they would draw beauty, strength, guidance, assurance, courage, and love from those deposits for the rest of their lives.
I also realized, though, that I could not give to them what I did not myself possess. If I wanted the souls of my children to be rich, then my soul needed to be rich because it was my soul they would draw from. And so the idea of intentionality began to engage the imagination of my heart.
Whatever I filled my mind with, whatever I learned and embraced, became the tutor of their education, as I lived my moments in their presence. Investing time every morning with the Lord was so important as what I learned in those moments became the passion I passed on each morning over breakfast.
What treasures are you tucking into your own heart today, so you can pass goodness on to your children?