Have you ever looked for one thing and instead you found something else that you had totally forgotten about? Recently, I done just that.
I am going to back up a couple of months. As most of you know, tax documents begin to arrive at the end of January. Usually, I place ours in a legal sized mailing envelope so I don’t lose them. Then I put them in one spot. Well, when it came time to do our taxes, I looked in the spot I have used for years . Guess what. They weren’t there. Needless to say, I was rather surprised. Next, I looked where I kept our mail and other important papers. They didn’t appear to be there either. So, I sat down and went through all the papers I could find. Nothing. I tried to remember what I had done with our tax stuff, but nothing came to me.
The places left to search were at the top of some of the closets. With a sigh, I got out my step ladder. Being just over five foot tall, I keep one handy. To be honest, I don’t like to climb on it too much since I am such a klutz. Anyway, I went through the stuff in the top of the closet in my writing room. Nothing. I looked in the top of the coat closet. Nothing. At this point, I’m trying not to panic. There was one place I hadn’t looked through yet: the top of the hall closet
So, I climbed up and began to move around a quilt and some blankets. That’s when I found it. No, it wasn’t our tax stuff. It was a jewelry box I had made when I was a little girl. Actually, some older kids at vacation bible school helped us make them. There was no way I could have done that by myself. To be fair, I couldn’t do it by myself now. I then remembered that I placed it there for safe keeping years ago. Immediately I took my treasure into the living room. There I sat down on the couch and carefully pulled out each precious nugget of my childhood memories.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Matthew 13:44 (KJV)
What is treasure to you? To some it would have been my tax documents if I was due a refund. Others would consider the souvenirs from my youth as such. But the only true treasure is The Kingdom of heaven. It is far more valuable than anything we can ever own here. Have you found it yet?
Are you wondering if I found our tax documents. Yes, I did. I didn’t have any large envelopes, so I had put them in a baggie with some mail until I could buy some envelopes. Unfortunately, I not only forgot to buy more, but I also forgot about the tax stuff being in the baggie. So, when I looked into it the first time, I only saw the mail on top. Our tax stuff had been in front of me the whole time. As my Mamaw Jo would’ve said: “If it was a snake, it would’ve bitten you.”
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.