Are You Storing Up Your Treasure?

Driving with two of my boys (ages two and four) to the grocery store can be entertaining, but I never know if I’ll get happy kids, crying kids, interested-in-what’s-going-on-outside kids, or demanding-a-movie kids.

This time a movie wasn’t possible because we’d driven Daddy’s car, but I heard this animated request from the backseat:

“Let’s play I Spy, Mommy!”

“Sure,” I said. “My favorite.”

The game may not really be my favorite, but I heard the joy and excitement in my boys’ voices as they shouted when their turns came. I listened closely to the little giggles and signs of gratification they had when they figured out what I was spying for them to find. My mama heart giggled with their giggles after a few turns, realizing that simple games and trips to the grocery store together are just what these two little people desire each day. What a privilege to be present in those moments!

I wonder how many moments in Jesus’s life Mary’s mind flashed back to as she witnessed his dying. Did she think about his birth in a stable and how low they were all brought then, yet how much joy they had anyway? Did she think about watching Joseph teach him carpentry as she marveled at everything her son’s hands had been able to do? Did she remember singing songs or telling stories to Jesus at night before bed, and then tuck that memory even closer to her heart?

I wonder if Mary ever envisioned Jesus’s life coming to the point of death on the cross. I wonder if she watched him preach and teach and put Pharisees in their place, knowing these actions were building on his purpose. Death on a cross still seems like it would come as a shock to any mama, though.

Watching our children grow and come into their purpose—even during the tensions of life—and seeing God’s hand work in their lives is miraculous. Mary’s presence in Jesus’s life involved watching some of the greatest and hardest moments he experienced. I hope I have the strength, wisdom, and love inside me to never step too far out of my kids’ lives. I want them to know I’m available if they need me, especially in their hardest times, just as Mary stood by Jesus even when her heart must have been breaking.

I fully expect that my kids will have tensions in their lives. Hard moments and difficult circumstances will teach them lessons and move them closer to looking like Jesus. As moms, we’ll watch the Lord crucify some of our children’s bad habits, their pride, or their hardened hearts. He will bring about new life! We all have access to that new life because of Jesus’s resurrection. He conquered death, true death, so all our sin can be conquered and so we can look more like him. Observing his disciplines in our children will be painful at some points, but we’ll have joy when we realize what Jesus has done in their hearts and lives—if they let him.

Can you store up moments to treasure in your heart, the way I believe Mary did, so that when the hard times come, you have something to hold on to?

Carla Clemens enjoys a crazy, beautiful life with her military husband and four sons. A baby and toddler interrupt her homeschool days in the best ways, and she is always attempting to live with mindfulness of each moment. She hopes to look at the world and each person in it in light of our amazing Creator and therefore, to see each moment presented as an opportunity to love and serve him more. Carla relishes time to ponder God’s Word and have quiet moments with him and her coffee. She loves doing life with other mamas and encouraging them to simply be who God has made them to be.