The Mom Box

There are five file boxes on a shelf in my closet.
Each one is a different color.
Each one has manila folders inside.
The boxes belong to each of my five children.

The Mom Box.

All through their school years, our refrigerator resembled an art gallery.
Magnets holding treasured artwork.
Magnetic letters to help the blossoming reader in the family.
Tests and papers the children were proud to display.

I decided early on that some sort of system was needed.
They worked hard on these things.
How could I keep them, display them, and save them?
Keep them without being overrun by paper.

I began with grocery bags.

Each child received a grocery bag in the beginning of the school year.
That bag was supposed to contain everything they did that year.
School work, art work, personal stories, and drawings.
The bag went into their closet.

That bag, in essence, became their personal filing cabinet.
It was so helpful when they needed to refer to a homework assignment.
It was all there, neatly contained, readily accessible.
It was an accumulation of a year’s worth of work.

They got to choose the special things that were hung up and displayed.
When it was time to rotate pieces off the refrigerator, the displayed items went in the bag.
They didn’t mind doing this since nothing was thrown away, just moved to a new place.
When school was over for the summer, it was time to go through their personal bag.

They would spend hours pouring over the work they accomplished.
They had a new found pride in what they had done.
They had a sense of ownership and responsibility.
This bag was an extension of them.

I would peek my head into their rooms as they went through this process.
I enjoyed seeing them run back and forth showing things to each other.
I enjoyed hearing their laughter as they saw their handwriting then and now.
It was important for them to know that their work mattered.

However, they had a job to do.
They had to make two piles.
A throw away pile and a Mom Box pile.
The throw away pile had to be the biggest pile.

It was up to them to determine what went into each pile.
The throw away pile went back into the original bag to go out in the trash.
The Mom Box pile was given to me.
I took a manila folder and wrote their name, grade, and year on the tab.

The folder went into the Mom Box with pride.
They knew that folder represented what they deemed worthy of saving.
I would add special things to the folder.
Handmade cards, little notes they wrote to me, and programs from school concerts.

Report cards were put in the Mom Box along with their school pictures.
Awards and certificates would be added as they received them.
It was a potpourri of a year in their life.
They each loved that it was there in my closet.

As they got older, they would ask to see their Mom Box.
The only rule was that they had to keep things in the folder where they were found.
We haven’t had any mishaps.
They seem to enjoy taking their Mom Box off the shelf and remembering.

Have them make a chest of acacia wood – two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out and make a gold molding around it. Cast four rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. Make an atonement cover of pure gold – two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim of out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony which I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all My commands for the Israelites. (Exodus 25:10-22)

The ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. (Hebrews 9:4)

God’s Box.
Special things put inside that represented Him and His relationship with His people.
These items were significant pieces that represented their journey to the Promised Land.
God’s Box pointed to Jesus.

Jesus, who is the Bread of Life.
Jesus, who is High Priest interceding for His people.
Jesus, who came to fulfill the law.

We don’t need to pull God’s box off the shelf.
If we are in Christ, Jesus is always there, never leaving us; never forsaking us.
What a treasure we have in Jesus.