“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-20

My sister and I spent a week in Southern California helping Mom de-clutter and pack to get her house ready for market. After forty-seven years in one place, and two years since Dad passed, she has slowly wrapped her mind and heart around the idea of moving to be closer to family in her latter years. How gracious God is to gently allow us to loosen our grip when change is on the horizon. Scary, yes. But, as one dear friend said, “It’s a new adventure!”

Now, Mom is one of those incredibly creative types with an impressive collection of projects underneath her bedazzled belt. She has cabinets, drawers, bins, baskets, tins, tables, and counter tops full of projects and possibilities. A plethora of art supplies and materials are never in short supply. Not to mention shelves of inspirational instruction books from crocheting and embroidery, to beading and toll painting. She’s done it all. Though she didn’t write the book, she very well could have.

With the help of a few good friends, I was amazed at how swiftly she sorted through the lot, repeating the words “keep” and “give-away” as we worked. The living room became a donation station. Setting up a few portable tables, we kept bringing stuff out. When the tables were full, we covered the floor beneath them. Kitchenware, books, art supplies, knick-knacks, and the like. Always a giving person, Mom invited friends to help themselves giving the rest to charity.

Chocolate milk always tastes better in a Nestle Nesquik bunny cup!

Some things I had never even seen before. Others, a flashback to my childhood. Like the plastic Nesquik bunny cup I drank from, that my children drank from, that our present and future grandchildren will drink from.

One of our big projects was to carefully pack Mom’s hand-painted porcelain dolls, aka her “babies”…some of them award-winning, all of them precious. With plenty of extra batting, paper, and bubble wrap, we painstakingly protected their delicate hands and feet wrapping them up like little burritos. Including some glass domes and a couple lamps handcrafted by Aunt Madeline, we filled no less than eight heavy-duty plastic bins. Pray they all survive. *Handy packing tip: use balls of yarn to fill holes and add cushion.

Thankfully, my Uncle Mike, Mom’s brother, did most of the heavy lifting, schlepping box after box out to the garage as we sealed them. Trying to be spatially conscious, I never used the word “jenga” so many times in my life. Did you know it works as a verb? Yes, it does. One can jenga this or jenga that. Uncle Mike jenga’d the heck out of those boxes, stacking them into a massive cardboard tower like a boss.

Somewhere in the middle of the hair-in-a-bun-no-make-up week, I pulled Mom aside to ask how she wanted to handle her jewelry. She has made many beautiful beaded necklaces, bracelets, and pins through the years. I wanted her to pull whatever pieces out she might like to wear over the next few weeks before packing them up. But, in all the upheaval and mix of emotions that go with such a big transition, my question quickly overwhelmed her.

“Oh, I can’t”, she said, with tears welling up in her eyes. “All I need is my cross and my hoop earrings.” After a tender embrace, we parted and went back to work. But, somehow her words lingered with me, bringing the weight of all things eternal to the forefront.

Mom’s gold cross necklace and hoop earrings set aside so they wouldn’t accidentally get packed!

When it’s all said and done, what do we need, really? Faith, family, and a little bit of fun…the cross and “hoop earrings” of life.

You shall have all three, my dear mother. You shall have all three. And the promise of heaven to boot!

Back home in Tennessee, after some much needed rest, I treated myself to a pedicure and wore my gold cross necklace the next day in the studio. I’m finally getting to some new music, singing songs about life with Jesus, in the now and the not yet. Excited to share more about that soon.

Because of Him,

Cheri

PS  Mom is in good health and we hope to have several more years with her. On this trip, however, she made it known that when that time comes, she’d like “The Old Rugged Cross”…

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
And I’ll cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown

She also has requested a plain wooden coffin so all her creative friends can gather around to decorate it, glue guns and sequins in hand. She’ll go up and out in style! And Jesus will be there to meet her. The Greatest Adventure of all.