My Mom had an old trunk to keep things in, it was in rough shape, missing handles, and torn in places. I asked her one time, why she kept it. She told me that when she was a child, her dad left and deserted her family. This was during the Great Depression during the 1930’s in the south. Her mom had to put her, her brother and sister in an orphanage to go find a job to provide for them. Their mom came back and got them sometime later. While she was at the orphanage, her few clothes and everything she had was in that trunk.I asked her if was she was bitter about having to go through that difficult time… She said no, I asked why? She replied that while she was in the orphanage, she learned how to share, and get along with others. She said that God used those people skills she learned there in the orphanage to help prepare her for her work in our family’s laundry business years later… What an amazing attitude!

After she passed away, I had a friend repaint the trunk for me. It sits in our (Bear) den. It is an empty trunk but for me, every time I look at it…it is full of wonderful memory treasures from my mom’s life that will always be in my heart, mind, and soul. Things that have blessed and benefited me beyond measure… Such as my mom’s kindness to people, her compassion to help others, showing me that God can use even our hurts to help others, her perpensity to laugh at herself when funny things happened to her through out her life. Some of her favorite sayings were…”you got to widen your horizons” (which means… don’t be afraid to try new things and experiences) and “Don’t look back, you can’t live in the past.”

She taught me these and many other great things by her example. Although she has been gone several years, her impact and influence in my life is as strong as it has ever been. I’m so thankful for my mom sharing these treasures with me.