Do you enjoy a good treasure hunt? Love to stumble upon something that has been lost for generations?
My friend Julie and her husband Doug were downsizing. They were getting ready to move halfway across the world – to Russia, where they would be serving as missionaries.
I could feel Julie’s pain as they sold most of their possessions here. It would just be too expensive to ship everything. She had a beautiful apartment here with lots of “country” decor. She also had a pantry full of kitchen gadgets and small appliances that would need adapters in order to use there.
One of Julie’s most prized possessions was a hope chest (or blanket box as some call them). It was a family heirloom from her grandmother. Doug was quite firm with the downsizing process. He said that the box was just too heavy to justify shipping it.
As they examined the box more closely, Doug noticed for the first time that the inside was much smaller than the outside. They looked for a hidden compartment, and sure enough, there was a drawer at the bottom!
The drawer contained a treasure, all right, but not one that was worth a financial fortune. Rather, it contained a collection of family photographs, scrap books, and other precious keepsakes. Julie called her mom, and found out that her mom had no idea that the hope chest had a drawer. She had never seen any of the pictures before.
With the family treasure safely stored with Julie’s mom, the chest was much lighter, and Doug finally gave in and added it to the items that they were shipping to Russia.
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