When our daughter was accumulating furniture for her first apartment, we bought an old oak rocking chair at a yard sale for eight dollars. When moving day arrived, she decided that the rocker would not fit her décor so we placed it in a spare bedroom. For years it sat there.
A few weeks ago at our own yard sale, we decided to let it go. I sold it to a shocked gentleman for three dollars. After it was gone, I missed it terribly and wondered, “Why had I sold it … and for only three dollars?” The revelation came quickly.
Because I had paid so little for it, I never appreciated it’s real worth. I never considered the craftsman’s hands that had turned the spindles, the skilled furniture maker who had fastened the joints in place, or the babies who were rocked to sleep in it. I always saw it as just a yard sale bargain.
Our lives – and the lives of our children – are filled with blessings that cost us little:
- a starlit evening
- silly giggles in the night
- a snow day
- birds chirping at dawn
- a peach tree laden with ripe fruit
- a yard sale rocking chair
Let us teach our children to never measure the true worth of a blessing by the yardstick of its cash value. Instead, let us give them wisdom, demonstrating how to appreciate each blessing as a gift, like an old friend who has come by to visit, and rock for a while.
How Young Children Learn 