The Stack Of Boxes

I stood there in the little country thrift store located in the place that rejuvenates my spirit.
I was looking at the boxes that caught my eye as I was heading upstairs to the second floor.
There were three boxes stacked one on top of the other.
The boxes were a warm, burnt-red color and reminded me of my son’s drum set.

I stood at a distance looking at them.
I was picturing where they might go in my house.
I turned each box over to see the price that was marked on the bottom.
I was doing the simple math in my head to see if I should purchase them.

As I stepped back again and stood at a distance, a couple approached the boxes.
Oh, look at these; I think she will really like them, the wife said.
They look like hat boxes; she can keep all of her crafts in this one.
She was talking to her husband who was politely listening to his wife.

He noticed that I was standing there looking at the boxes.
His wife didn’t notice me and was too preoccupied with her own thoughts.
It was only one of the boxes that she was interested in buying.
You can’t break the set, I protested in my mind.

The wife walked in front of me and continued to talk about the one box she might buy.
The husband kept looking over at me.
I knew that he knew I was contemplating the purchase of the boxes.
They were not mine; I had no right to them.

When it seemed as if the woman would never make a decision, I spoke up.
Let me know if you decide not to buy the box because I will purchase all three of them.
The husband looked at me knowingly.
He now knew for certain the reason I was standing there.

You can have them, the woman said without a hint of remorse.
I don’t think it will work for what I intended.
Are you sure? I asked her, secretly hoping that she would not change her mind.
Quite sure, she said as she walked away to something else she saw across the room.

I picked up all three boxes and walked over to the counter.
I would like to buy these boxes, but I want to go upstairs and look around first, I explained.
Of course. I will just leave them here on the other counter until you come downstairs.
I thanked the Mennonite woman behind the counter and walked upstairs.

It was delightful to browse through the books and housewares.
It was thrilling to look into the back room where the Mennonite women were quilting.
They were sitting together and talking as they each worked on a square.
The finished quilts are for sale and carefully hung in a enclosed room with a glass window.

I went downstairs and heard his voice.
Well, who do those boxes belong to? A man said in annoyance.
They are just sitting here. Why can’t I buy them? He insisted.
Well, the quiet Mennonite woman explained, they are already spoken for.

She saw me coming down the stairs.
I wondered if she was going to point to me as the purchaser.
Thankfully, she did not.
The man walked away very annoyed that he could not buy the boxes.

I remember something my mother used to say.
Everyone wants the sweater on the table that has people around it.
I didn’t understand that at the time, thinking it was a lesson in popularity.
However, she meant far more.

The sweater on the other table, with no one around, is equally lovely, maybe more lovely.
People want what everyone else wants and when they cant have it, they want it even more.
Oh, Mom if you could see me now!
It is not a sweater that everyone wants but rather the set of boxes.

I purchased the boxes as the sweet Mennonite woman stacked them inside each other.
The annoyed man looked at me in dismay.
The woman and her husband were off discussing another item.
I went out to the parking lot and put the boxes in my car.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3)

My mother was right in teaching me to not want what everyone else wanted.
Rather than teach that truth in the negative, she taught it to me in the positive.
The sweater on the other table with no one around, is equally lovely, maybe more lovely.
She taught me to see beauty in obscure things, the unnoticed things, the less desirable things.

Of course, I am delighted that I was able to buy the stack of boxes.
They look lovely on my hearth in my family room.
However, if someone else had bought them that day, I would have been fine with that.
I would have been a little disappointed but I would have been fine.

They are just boxes after all.
There is beauty in the boxes that were stacked in the corner.
There is beauty in the heart when you decide to let go of something rather than covet.
There is beauty in the countenance when you are kind when someone else is not.

Obscure things.
Unnoticed things.
Less desirable things.
They are equally lovely, maybe more lovely.