I am a keeper. By that I mean, I am one who keeps. I'll leave it up to you whether I'm worth being kept.
I've never really understood those who aren't keepers. I mean, how could anyone throw away the cardboard sign, with the name of their elementary school on it, that hung around their neck when they won a part of the City Spelling Championship as a 6th grader in 1958 ? Or, how could they even think about sending to oblivion their report cards from Grades 1-12 ? Not that I'm all that proud of them. But, you just never know when you might need some of this stuff.
I even kept my ACT score booklet from 1964. But after hearing what my grandkids are scoring on theirs, that 50-year old booklet may finally be headed for the shredder.
How many of you still have your college acceptance letter ? The postmark on mine is September 8, 1964, (with a 5-cent stamp). I still have my college diploma, which proves to everyone my four years of satisfying the course of study I chose, so I can imagine what you non-keepers are suggesting I do with my acceptance letter and four years worth of college grade slips.
And how about the Southern Airways ticket from the first time I was ever on an airplane---a flight from Bristol, Tennessee to Memphis, Tennessee to run in the Volunteer State Athletic Conference Cross-Country championships when I was 20 years-old ? What say you ? Keep...or toss ?
You know those 1 1/2 " by 3" name cards that you order at High School graduation time to put in with your graduation announcements, which serves not only as an invitation to your Graduation Ceremony, but also an invitation to contribute to your College Fund ? You guessed it. I ordered too many in 1964---and just can't bear to part with the unused ones.
If you're not a keeper, you've likely stopped reading by now, in disgust. If you are a keeper/saver, then you know that I've only barely mentioned the tip of the memorabilia iceberg here.
So, is there an explanation why we do this ? Why our attics and our basements, even the spaces under our beds are full of these keepsakes and relics ? I could probably pay someone $100 per hour to come up with an answer why I do it. But then I'd have to pop open one of my about-to-explode keepsake bins and somehow find room to keep the notes from my first ever counseling session. So instead, I'll just throw out a couple of theories gained by a much cheaper self-analysis.
First of all, I honestly think I save a lot of this stuff because of the joy I think it will bring others some day. For example, my 46 year-old daughter has never seen the hospital bill from when she was born. How could she not gain a great deal of satisfaction from seeing that ? The only question is, why have I waited so long to show it to her ?
A few years ago, I took all of the birthday, Father's Day, Anniversary, and Christmas cards I had received (which of course I had saved religiously for years), and gave them back to those who had lovingly sent them. I knew the joy of laughter that these cards would bring to others. Surely, they realized that what they had sent was so meaningful to me, that I had saved them, in some cases, for decades. Cool, huh ?
Finally, many of the treasures that I've saved are reminders of God's overall provision at any given time, regardless of the anxiety I might have been feeling at that time of my life. And that fact that He never fails is something we need to remember, whether we're keepers or not.
So, go easy on the keepers in your life. And remember....they may just be keeping something that will bring a much-needed smile to your heart any day now.
Thanks for listening. Right now, I need to go read what my High School classmates wrote in the back of my yearbook 50 years ago. As I recall, they wrote some very encouraging words.
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