Treasured Trinkets
It was late on a Sunday afternoon. My wife was at work and the activities our two young daughters and I had on our plate had taken longer than we had expected. The last item on the list was a visit to Goodwill. But it was just two minutes to 5 p.m., the Sunday closing time, when we arrived.
You see during our girls’ younger years, Joelyn and I would keep the toy population at home under control by letting the girls exchange a grocery bag full of toys donated to Goodwill for a new toy or game purchased at Goodwill. It was what they call a win, win, win scenario. Until this particular time.
Because we had arrived so late, I dropped off the bags, promising the girls we would return to buy the new items Tuesday evening when I picked them up from day care. Indeed, with much reminding, on Tuesday we headed straight for the Goodwill store and, as usual, straight to the toy bin.
We hadn’t been there more than a minute when Katie announced, “Daddy, that’s my toy!”
“Did you give it away in the bag?” I asked.
“No Daddy. I wouldn’t give that toy away.”
“Well then it must be someone else’s and just looks like yours.”
Not to be deterred, Katie, by then, had crawled up onto the toy rack and had retrieved her toy. Yes, her toy. “Look Daddy, it is mine, it has my name on it.”
Truth exposed. Trust shattered. The Goodwill exchange forever altered. Our four-year-old had caught us red handed. Not only had she been filling her bag, so had we.
We didn’t leave the store that night until every toy had been searched. And every parental donation reclaimed. It was a rather odd feeling to be buying back those Happy Meal treasures we had donated just two days before.
God must have been grinning.
I suspect from His perspective we all have treasured trinkets in our lives that we’d be better off without. Things that don’t necessarily honor Him. But in His infinite wisdom, God knows there is no point in Him stuffing those things at the bottom of our Goodwill bags. They are decisions we need to make, choices we need to choose.
It’s an incredible gift, when you stop and think about it. The ruler of the universe, our Creator, the one who absolutely knows the best course of direction for every detail of our lives giving us the freedom to choose what to keep and what to give away. And it’s an incredible risk. For we fill our lives with stuff, not necessarily bad stuff, but ultimately junk that overfills and overwhelms the real focus of our lives. And we desperately, so desperately need Him to help us fill our give away bags.
Perhaps this season, as resolutions are set, perhaps you and I can invite God to help us fill our sacks. To drop off these treasured trinkets. And to not return to buy them back.