Gò0dNews for Parents
Where Your Treasure Is
I
by Rhonda Beavers
’ve always been amazed by the way that squirrels
conversations with them, pieces of advice they have
bury, presumably, hundreds if not thousands of
given me, and little private jokes between the three
nuts every fall only to rediscover them the next
of us. When I think of something for the first time, it
spring. Some force of a natural tracking system
makes me smile. Each memory is like a shining jewel.
directs them to each little buried treasure which,
Some are tiny rhinestones, and some are as big and
when retrieved, leaves a perfect little round divot
special as the Hope Diamond, and I treasure them all.
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
When I am in need of advice about this crazy ride
from their past. About my mother’s long walk home
we call life, I often, either voluntarily or involuntarily,
after her school bus broke down miles from home.
go back to my conversations with them looking
About how my father learned how Kennedy had been
for answers. It is a comfort when I find one. “For
killed while he was sitting at the top of a telephone
where your treasure is, there will be your heart also”
pole working as a lineman. About how they went by
(Matthew 6:21). It is also a comfort when a Bible verse
themselves to be married by my mother’s uncle and
comes to mind when I need advice from my Heavenly
about how my dad carved their initials into a nearby
Father. We are instructed to hide the Word in our
tree. I wish I could find that tree, how I wish I could.
hearts. “Thy Word I have hid in mine heart, that I
One of the hardest things about losing them was when I wanted to ask a question, and there was no
might not sin against Thee” (Psalms 119:11). Talk to your father and mother. Listen to their
one to go to. The encyclopedia of their lives was
stories, their memories, and their advice. Hide it in
closed forever, and there is no other copy in the
your memory. Read your Heavenly Father’s Word and
world. I constantly mine the fields of my mind for
hide it in your heart.
24 // July 2022
