We went on a treasure hunt today and found a little love.  Tomorrow, we are going to share it.  Isn’t that what you are supposed to do with love?  Share it.

The day started like any other…

Mommy snuck out the front door…very quietly…and went to check the mail.  I actually managed to make it out alone this morning.

“Is there anything for US?!?” is what is asked every single day.

“Yes!” was the answer they received today.

In the mailbox this morning, mommy found a “mystery letter.”  There was no postmark, not even any postage, and no return address.  It was simply a hand-written letter, addressed to all the kids in our house.  Where in the world could such a letter come from?  That is what my kids have wondered all day.  THAT, guys, is a mystery.

What did this letter contain, you wonder?

Instructions to find a treasure, of course.

“A treasure hunt!!!”

We hike A LOT and have recently started geocaching at nearby state parks.  How that works is…you use a GPS to follow coordinates to a box that is hidden in the woods.  Once you find the box, you can choose a “treasure” from within the box and return one of your own for the next finder.  My kids love this.  They are totally in their element, walking around in the woods.  I decided to use their love of the woods and “treasure hunting” to come up with an idea that would cater to their interests, excite them, and teach them a moral lesson all at the same time.

My kids were more than eager to get the day started.  After breakfast, some homeschool, and lunch, we used the clues from the letter (GPS coordinates for us… a simple map or written directions would do) and started searching around our own backyard to find this “treasure.”  My oldest has quite the “eagle eye” and found it hidden in a location where they once played treasure hunt.

“Here it is!  There is something right where we used to hide OUR treasure, but it’s something different!!”

We found something, but it was not treasure.  It was nothing more than a promise…declaring that a treasure was still yet to be found.

We must wait.  WAIT?!?!

What a wonderful opportunity to explain to my children how hard it is to wait and how blessings don’t always appear according to our timing.  Good things really do come to those who are patient.  God’s timing is different from our own.

The day was long for my kids.  They asked often why we couldn’t just keep looking around to see if we could find something else.  I explained that the letter told us that we had to wait until dark.  We needed darkness to see the light.  On our way home from church tonight, we turned into our driveway and saw the faint glow of a purple glow stick in a tree near our driveway.

“Mama, I think I see a purple or blue light.”

“Really?  Let’s check it out.”

Sure enough, in a stump at the bottom of that tree was a bag with a treasure in it.  It was a heart-shaped cookie cutter and a note to remind us of God’s love.

Oh, what a treasure…the love of God.  The note also encouraged my children to share God’s love with others.  So tomorrow, we will be making heart-shaped cookies, filled with love, and delivering them to our neighbors.

1 Corinthians 13:13  (NIV)

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

May my children learn that LOVE is the greatest treasure they could ever receive…and love is something they should always share.