Beyond the Page

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ~ Matthew 6:21

Raising a soon-to-be-teenage boy seems to have increased the frequency of conversations in our home about value.  He’s earning his own money now and the list of what he wants to buy with it grows ever longer.  These conversations require me to keep coming back to the basics of what I value in my own life.  What really matters to me?  Am I living in a way that reflects what my heart truly values?

These questions were on my mind today as my husband and I spent the afternoon browsing through a few of our favorite antique stores.  He knows that he’s sure to lose me to a section of antique books.  I’m immediately drawn to the volumes so worn and frayed that the spines are unreadable.  Those are the books I pick up first. Most of the editions I’ve added to my collection are like this – old, dusty, and fragile.  They don’t have any particularly notable monetary value and they’ve probably been passed up by hundreds of people before finding a home on my shelf.  But for me the value of these books is beyond what’s printed on their pages.  I feel connected to the hands that held them before me and I long to know more about those stories.

When I opened the cover of this 1906 publication of Robert Louis Stevenson there was no question that it was soon to be mine. Handwritten on the endpapers is a primitive genealogy of the family that owned it.  Each name is marked by a date of birth and death. Time paused for a moment as I read of Carl Arzberger, written in his wife’s hand, that he died Jan. 19, 1946, at 7:15pm.  There’s no wondering if Carl’s wife loved her husband or how much she valued his life – she recorded it right down to the day, his last moment in her arms.

This is but a glimpse of God’s love for us.  He chooses us first, no matter how worn and frayed our lives may be.  He finds us worthy to do His work despite our weakness.  While others may disparage and pass us by He invites us to be in His arms for the entirety of the time we are given.  God’s love inspires me to reflect His value in my life every day.