Anyone who knows Troy and I knows we truly live out the phrase “one man’s trash is another’s treasure”! Whether we are on a “Saturday date” (yard sales), spending “half-price day” at our favorite thrift store or the occasional dumpster dive, we have never been afraid of a pile of trash. We can find the treasure!
This year we have sorted through a lot of trash, sometimes having to look extra hard to find the treasure. I think the “trash” has made us even more thankful for the many “treasure” times this year— a family/Marching Band trip to Disney to see both of the boys march in the parade down Main Street, Mitchell meeting Captain Hook - his all time favorite Disney character (huh?), two super fun seasons of soccer for him, Makenzie making the Competition Cheerleading team, having a fun & winning season, becoming state champions, Marshall entering high school, being a part of an award winning Marching Band, performing in the Concert Band, getting his “Learner’s” (“treasure” for him– not me, not by any stretch of the imagination!), hiking trips, too many BRAVES games to count, business success, and most “treasured”, lots of time spent in our home with family and friends.
Having three children (celebrating birthdays 15, 13 &7) in three different schools this year, very involved in three very different activities, has certainly brought a ton of “trash” into our lives! I am not just talking about the French fry boxes left in the van, I am talking about the “trash” of hours of practices, football games, competitions (band & cheerleading), soccer matches, homework and projects, you know, all the things that make it a challenge for families to eat together, watch movies together and pray together. It has been in between the “trash” of crazy schedules that we have had to dig deep to find the “treasure” in living in this moment, watching our children growing—happy, healthy and bearing the name of Christ.
That is “treasure”!
We know this year, at times, has seemed to be “trash filled” for a lot of our family and friends , and our nation as a whole. But, God’s Word is so clear ... this “trash” on earth dos not last, but the “treasure” of salvation is forever. As we celebrate the birth of Christ, who left the “treasure” of Heaven to save a “trash filled” world, it is the perfect time to consider what we “treasure” and if it will stand the test.
We Pray Your Christmas and New Year Will Be Full of Treasure!
Troy Kendra Marshall Makenzie & Mitchell
“But keep on storing up treasures for yourselves in heaven,where moths and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:20-21
Photo taken @ Johnson’s Truck Sales Norris City, Illinois
(Yes, we are in a “junk yard”!)
