This is my own piece of Narnian treasure. Found on the ground beneath a London lamppost. It sits by our bed as a reminder of a moment… a gift… an incredible time… priceless precious people… and as a symbol of mystery and possibility and wonder.
I had a weird collection at about age 10. Walking all uphill from primary school to home was a slow process and pushing my bike more than half of the way made sections even slower. When I remember those afternoons it’s always with a golden glow of lowering sun forming beams through the branches with the often twinkle of diamond fused to trunk.
These diamond twinklers were castles and critters, tiny worlds of wonder in hardened tree sap that I would take back home and lay in a drawer on black cloth like jewels too precious for display. Not everyone could see what I could see in those worlds and only those I thought just *might* would ever have been shown.
I am thinking this morning on treasures. Treasured moments we store away in our hearts- those that have no photos or physical reminders but get tucked away in velvet to take out and hold in quiet moments. I feel a little bit scared at the thought of forgetting any which is why I suppose the nooks and crannies of our home have jars of shells and odd little objects and scads of scraps of paper filled with children’s efforts.
Heart treasures are usually “you had to be there” moments. Where the glint of the light at just the right moment was also seen by someone beside. Or by someone you think might just be able to see the castle inside the sap.
Friday night added one. Saturday several. This morning another. Each a moment in time but decades in formation, filled with Life and Beauty and only visible to other castle seers – and the Castle Builder Himself of course.
“Joy” is too small a word.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:19