Where Your Treasure Is

by Rhonda Beavers

I’ve always been amazed by the way that squirrels bury, presumably, hundreds if not thousands of nuts every fall only to rediscover them the next spring. Some force of a natural tracking system directs them to each little buried treasure which, when retrieved, leaves a perfect little round divot where it rested.

My parents both had remarkable memories. They could recall events from their childhoods many decades past as if they had happened yesterday. When I had the great joy of becoming their chauffeur about town in their last few years, I was rewarded by being a witness to their thought processes. We would be riding along in silence when one or both of them would spot a funny or possibly even heart moving scene. They would point out the scene to the other passengers, comments from one or all would be entertained, and one of them would begin reminiscing about something similar from their past. About my mother’s long walk home after her school bus broke down miles from home. About how my father learned how Kennedy had been killed while he was sitting at the top of a telephone pole working as a lineman. About how they went by themselves to be married by my mother’s uncle and about how my dad carved their initials into a nearby tree. I wish I could find that tree, how I wish I could.

One of the hardest things about losing them was when I wanted to ask a question, and there was no one to go to. The encyclopedia of their lives was closed forever, and there is no other copy in the world. I constantly mine the fields of my mind for conversations with them, pieces of advice they have given me, and little private jokes between the three of us. When I think of something for the first time, it makes me smile. Each memory is like a shining jewel. Some are tiny rhinestones, and some are as big and special as the Hope Diamond, and I treasure them all.

When I am in need of advice about this crazy ride we call life, I often, either voluntarily or involuntarily, go back to my conversations with them looking for answers. It is a comfort when I find one. “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also” (Matthew 6:21). It is also a comfort when a Bible verse comes to mind when I need advice from my Heavenly Father. We are instructed to hide the Word in our hearts. “Thy Word I have hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psalms 119:11).

Talk to your father and mother. Listen to their stories, their memories, and their advice. Hide it in your memory. Read your Heavenly Father’s Word and hide it in your heart.