For my entire life, my Nana has kept a shelf full of irreplaceable, invaluable, one of a kind trinkets from around the globe- they created a visible symphony of her life experiences.
Small reminders of moments she shared, places that captured her soul and maybe some that she just found too cute not to buy.
Either way - they each had their place.
Not just on the special shelf at Nana’s house , but in a certain position, facing a specific direction. If you moved the tiny penguin family a little to the left, we all knew it.
If you had a quick look at the minature glass Pepsi bottle- be sure it would be noticed.
For years and years those ornaments watched us all grow. They were witness to us all becoming school age, toothless, adolescent- All while a reverent respect remained between us. Untouchable.
Even as an adult bringing my own children over to GG’s house ( Great Grandma) , the first and most important rule- do not touch the special shelf!!
I’d be lying if I didn’t sneak some moments of seeing sticky - vegemite covered- teeny tins hands pluck a bell from London and wizz it around, or the small ship from Singapore go straight in the mouth...but each swift catch of a moment with trinket in hand, created a knee jerk response- put it down! Put it back! Exactly where it belongs. Trace the dust outline of the shelf and place it carefully back as if it were never touched, never to be touched again.
To be honest, my Nana was never particular about them. She didn’t banish us from the special shelf. But as she spoke of where a piece was from, maybe we all developed a mutual respect. They had been given a place, above other trinkets, their value exceeded other trinkets thrown in the cupboard below.
One day in recent years , my Nana moved house. It was a downsizing, simpler way to live. I remember everyone packing up cups and plates by the dozen, throwing in utensils, photo albums, but no one touched the special shelf. Not yet. When the time would come, we would work that out.
And come it did.
Although not in the way I thought it would. As we begun looking through it all and giggling, telling stories of the times we touched the pelican vase, or one of our kids licked the tea cup, we also had to start packing them.
Removing them from their rightful thrones. They had done such an immaculate job of keeping consistency to Nana’s lounge and chunks of our childhood.
Now we were faced with a task of
not only touching these prized possessions, but removing them! It was probably my young developing brain as a child that placed such value on them, maybe they weren’t as timeless as I perceived them. But either way, to me, playing around with the life of the trinkets was a big deal.
As we begun picking up and wrapping them carefully in paper, someone would pipe up :
“ anyone want this one?!”
SORRY WHAT!?!
We can’t just dish out trinkets!!!!!
Mum assured me that all the special ones with meaning Nana had already sorted and kept safe, and the rest were up for grabs for us or....the SALVOS!!!
Mind blown.
One by one I started going through the remainder of the shelf. Eyeballing all the trinkets I thought were special over so many years, and really, they were space fillers.
I’d given them that value.
Misplaced honour.
You’re a trinket on the special shelf!!!
You can’t disguise yourself as a priceless possession my entire life and then be thrown into the nearest waste basket.
I remember scurrying to the discard pile : “ I’LL KEEP THEM ALL”.
Trying desperately to salvage years worth of my thoughts and understanding of these little treasures.
My Mum assured me a lot of what was left wasn’t valuable, didn’t have a story, a connection point, was perhaps a cheap knock off from the very beginning...
The betrayal.
You mean I might have been sacrificing my self discipline and wasting many moments idolising something that was from The Reject Shop all along?! For years!!!!
I’d done it to myself.
I could have asked. I mean Nana often told us stories of the special ones on the shelf. But the others I assumed had their own dark secrets yet to be revealed. Instead in silence they just sat there, looking like the real deal, acting like the rest- but in realty gaining my trust and respect as a special trinket from someone over the other side of the globe.
Fake. Trinkets.
I remember letting my daughter play with the pile left for the Salvos, almost defensive of them. “ Not too hard darling...Be very careful”
What did they care! They were on a one way trip to an op-shop or bin.
I sat protective over something that had no more meaning or value.
Something that once had meaning in my eyes and all along, it just wasn’t it’s true meaning.
In a similar way a few days ago I was tidying up my husbands book shelf ( he reads A LOT so it’s a big task).
I collected the bibles first.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight etc etc
So many bibles!!!
I flopped onto the floor in a swimming pool of NIV, Commentary, KJV, AMP,
thinking to myself ; at one point in history THE VALUE of this book was immeasurable. The intricate, meticulous work as it was recorded and translated. Copy by copy. Hour by hour. Stroke by stroke.
Then along comes Lisa Keros ( maiden name) thousands of years later, etching all over the pages of her first bible, how much she loves the boy over the fence!
Value.
As I carried 22 ( I counted) different types of bibles to the shed I was overcome with the reality that these 22 bibles in the hands of humans who are yet to gain access to the gospel, could change the course of their lives. Yet here I sit on the balcony wondering which edition I will read from today, if I can even peel myself away from Netflix. You know? What a world we live in. What a time to be alive. Given the most amount of option in the world, with the least amount of work.
It gives value something to fight for. Everything is cheap. Disposable.
Houses.
Phones.
Cars.
Friendship.
Integrity.
Might I encourage you my friends, to assess where you are placing value right now. On who, or what, or where.
Some relationships may have a value you’ve put on them that perhaps aren’t the healthiest of options.
Maybe some scenarios you’ve been replaying in your head as valuable- even if a negative - are being given value by validating them with your thoughts.
Maybe replaying them over and over allows those past memories to have shelf space. Maybe they aren’t the trinkets of value that deserve that space in your mind and heart.
We all have special shelf. Where what is most important and valuable to us resides. In our hearts and minds. It’s good to assess what it taking up that space and why.
Let me tell you sweethearts, unforgiveness will take up the entire shelf if you let it. It will rudely and arrogantly push off all other trinkets and leave you overcome and underwhelmed. Leave no space in your heart for that.
Romans 12:2 - Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
A constant choice of where you place value. You’ll never go wrong handing that struggling of value in the heart and mind - over to God.
Jesus, here is all of me. My mess, my thoughts, my past and my present.
Make it beautiful.
He will.
He does.
All my love ( and trinkets I salvaged )
Lis XX
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