Daily Treasures

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You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
("To My Child," quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54.)

This simple verse of Anne Campbell’s, written in behalf of her child says a lot about my life.  I recorded it in my journal years ago as a reminder of the promise my husband and I made to God to happily, prayerfully and willingly allow God to send to our family as many children as he wanted to send. Surprisingly this promise isn't limited to biological children. After taking in 4 exchange students, we hosted 2 more because God asked us to.

At first this promise scared me a little.  I wrote in my journal, "What if I’m still having children in my 40’s?  What if God sends me multiples?"  But God is faithful when we honor Him.  He has enlarged my heart, my understanding, my willingness, my capacity and even my ability.  Now I understand the scripture “Children are an heritage of the Lord: and.. . happy is the man [and woman] that hath [their] quiver full of them" (Psalm 127:3-5)  And I laugh as I read what I wrote, for now I would feel blessed to continue having children in my 40's and doubly blessed if I had twins.

When I received the mp3 audio, Daily Treasures, from EternalEncouragement in return for my honest review, it reminded me of this promise.  I was surprised that Lorrie Flem’s message really dug deep inside to shed light on what that promise really means.

What are my treasures? Here’s all 6 of ‘em.

"Daily Treasures" helped me realize it’s one thing to have children at the expense of or sacrificing worldly treasures but a completely different thing to actually view my children as THE Treasure! We don’t travel the world or buy extravagant things because that’s not where our hearts are.  We happily use our resources to raise a growing family on one income. 

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 Wow Lorrie, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.

The sacrifice of the “Treasures” is not enough; it’s actually what I view as the “Treasures.”   I’ll be chewing on this for months to come. 

If you would like to get your own copy of Daily Treasure, then head on over to Eternal Encouragement.  Lorrie gives lots of practical ways to help us view our children as the treasure they are.