Time Capsules
While moving things in a storage area, I found a plastic container that held a few treasures from my childhood. I sat on the floor, cross-legged, and lifted the lid.
First out was Mrs. Beasley, my childhood companion, best buddy, and always-faithful blue polka-dotted doll. I’d told her all my secrets and clutched her when I was lonely or scared. At about six years old, I solemnly swore to her that we’d be buried together.
Next, I pulled out a fuzzy alligator with a zippered tummy. I’d tucked my pajamas inside when I went to stay with my grandmother, a woman who’d loved me unconditionally.
I took out an award I’d won for academic achievement—silver, sadly, not gold.
I stared at a slightly haunting black-and-white photo of fifteen-year-old me intimidated by the unknown ahead. I looked into her—my—eyes and swelled with compassion. What would I say to her, Sandra to Sandie, today? “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24).
Hey, Sandie. You did a great job navigating both easy and hard times. You’re as faithful to your husband and friends as to Mrs. Beasley. You know those imaginary friends people teased you about? They’ve made a living and a ministry for you as a fiction writer. Sometimes, silver is better than gold because you achieve but needn’t fear falling from a perch. You can be the kind of grandma to your grandkids that your grandmas were to you. All that time? You weren’t alone. God was with you.
Close your eyes, beloved, and think about the treasures and traumas of your childhood. How did God use them to help shape the person you are today? Reassure yourself—yep, out loud. Don’t read on until you do this. You are worth all the time it takes.
Open your eyes now to today. Life is still filled with treasures and traumas. Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus, the king in Greek mythology doomed to push a boulder up a hill only to have it repeatedly roll back on him. Will my work, my life, matter? What would future Sandra twenty years from now say to me today? “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29 NLT).
Hey, Sandra. Remember when you worried God didn’t see or hear some of your prayers? Well, look at them now. Immeasurably more than you could have asked or imagined, right (Ephesians 3:20)? That hard work? He doubled the talents and then doubled them again. Good job not giving up (Galatians 6:9). Can’t wait to see what’s next, girl! Press on (Philippians 3:14)! All that time? You weren’t alone. God went before you.
Your turn, beloved. Close your eyes, move ahead a few years, and look back at yourself today. What do you have to say to and for yourself? Make those words sweet and encouraging.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you.
DEUTERONOMY 31:8
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“Taste and see that the Lord is good! How blessed is the person who trusts in him!” Psalm 34:8