{"id":748,"date":"2017-12-04T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/treasuring-treasures-of-life-and-in\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:12:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:12:09","slug":"treasuring-treasures-of-life-and-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=748","title":{"rendered":"Treasuring the Treasures of Life and in the Light of Eternity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nIf you keep up with my posts, you\u2019ll know that I\u2019ve been going back and forth to Tulsa over the last few weeks to help with my 95-year old Mother-in-Law\u2018s move to Karen\u2019s (my sis-in-law’s) home. It was Mom\u2019s admission of not wanting to live alone \u201cin this big house\u201d any longer, when she told Karen, that she was ready to move. How beautiful that Mom made that decision on her own. We all knew that was soon-at-hand because she hasn\u2019t been feeling well for some time now. Though Mom’s room at Karen’s was beautifully prepared and ready for her weeks ago, Karen never pushed her to move as she wanted her to still fill in control on the timing. But a couple of days ago, she announced that she was ready and within a couple of hours, they had her at her new home with them. <\/p>\n

It came after many sweet and precious moments of her letting go of so many treasures that she had accumulated over her 95 years, and 52 years of marriage. Treasures that were so important to her at one time, now are only important enough to pay-them-forward. The reality of heaven getting so close for her, motivated her to part with those things that, in the light of eternity \u2013 just won’t matter any more.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>How beautiful that many years ago, Mom started writing different ones\u2019 names and the date under the bottom of some of those treasures. With the things not marked, she invited the children and grandchildren to come and select what they wanted. It has been a process, for sure, because Mom wanted to go through drawers, book shelves, cabinets and closets to be able to assign any particular item to one of five places: 1) take with her to Karen\u2019s; 2) leave for children, grandchildren, close friends and relatives to select from; 3) to place in the estate sale that Karen and I will have in the Spring; 4) to give to charity and finally, 5) throw away.<\/p>\n

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You can just imagine that years of memories and collections of treasures presented many opportunities for story-telling times about \u201cwhere, when, why and who I got that from\u201d. How thankful we have been to be able to slow our own schedules down to patiently listen and savor the moments with her. And, even greater, that God gave us this time with her while she’s still with us, instead of after she graduates to heaven.<\/p>\n

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One of the dearest treasures I found was a binder of poems that she wrote. She had so many talents \u2013 cooking, sewing, playing the organ, ceramics painting, making others laugh at her wit and humor, praying, giving, and now, we knew her brilliant ability to write poetry.  <\/p>\n

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On Saturday, I drove to Mom\u2019s sister-in-law (Dad\u2019s sister), Aunt Joyce Litke\u2019s home in Waxahachie TX to deliver many of Mom\u2019s clothes, as well as other items that Mom had designated just for her. <\/p>\n

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Among those things were ceramic reindeer that Grandma Lena Wuerch (Joyce\u2019s Mom) painted and Mom wanted Joyce to have them. Aunt Joyce and I had such a special time together, recalling so many family times together, but the one I treasured most was when she teared up and said, \u201cI miss Ron so much (that\u2019s my husband). He cared for me and encouraged me so much during Adolf\u2019s illness and passing.\u201d I loved that she remembered and it made me remember how devoted he was to her with daily telephone calls and trips to see and encourage her. She gave me an intangible treasure to take home with me. It was worth the trip.<\/p>\n

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Mom and Dad met with many challenges over the years, but none were as devastating as the tornado that tore through their home and church at Lake Keystone, OK. So much was lost, but a few treasures remained for us to enjoy. Joyce has a ceramic rabbit that made it through the storm and it sits in a prominent spot in her home. After the tornado, Karen\u2019s daughter found a hand painted picture in a frame that was torn and broken. Mom had it repaired and that is the treasure that Georgianne requested Brad, Karen\u2019s son, selected a painting done by another aunt. My Staci chose one of her Bibles and a ceramic flower that she remembered from before the tornado. Ryan wanted anything to do with the \u201cWuerch\u201d family legacy, so he wanted legacy photos. <\/p>\n

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Shawntel was given a beautiful Lenox-like teapot, sugar and cream holders that Dad bought Mom when they were ministering in Alberta, Canada and when she was pregnant with my husband, Ron. I received the mink stole that she let me wear to Ron\u2019s Senior Prom. I was also overjoyed to be the recipient of Mom\u2019s little Christmas Tree that sat prominently in her den year after year that Karen had decorated so beautifully (pictured here), as well as her hand-painted nativity set. We all took home many other treasures from our visits with Mom — that we will all treasure, on earth, until we start to see “in the light of eternity” and pay them forward to our families.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m sharing with you this really \u201cbig moment\u201d for our family of transition time from one earthly home that was dear to Mom and Dad, and all of us for many years, to her new home with Karen and George. It is a major transition time for them as well. We know that God is the conductor of this symphony of life. It may appear that Mom is getting closer to her transition to her heavenly home, and, indeed it is. One day soon, Jesus will say, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant. Come to your home sweet home.” <\/p>\n

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Rick Warren, in his wonderful book \u201cThe Purpose Driven Life\u201d said, “When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. You will start living in \u201clight of eternity\u201d, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance.” St. Paul said \u201cI once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.\u201d Philippians 3:7<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s the way Mom is living these days. That\u2019s why when she\u2019s feeling pretty good, she calls people to encourage them and pray with them. She gets it. In the light of eternity. nothing else matters except for Jesus. We\u2019ll treasure her treasures until \u201cthe light of eternity\u201d draws us home, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you keep up with my posts, you\u2019ll know that I\u2019ve been going back and forth to Tulsa over the last few weeks to help with my 95-year old Mother-in-Law\u2018s move to Karen\u2019s (my sis-in-law’s) home. It was Mom\u2019s admission of not wanting to live alone \u201cin this big house\u201d any longer, when she told…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[419,450,4305,4306,4307,3712,4308,3269,3261,4309],"class_list":["post-748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eternity","tag-light-of-eternity","tag-philippians-37","tag-purpose-driven-life","tag-reality-of-heaven","tag-rick-warren","tag-tornado","tag-transition","tag-treasures","tag-well-done-good-and-faith-servant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7608,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions\/7608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}