This past week I became a member of an exclusive club, one that takes years, possibly decades, to become eligible. There is no elaborate membership fee, per se. But, trust me, you pay for it in small increments over time.

I am officially an empty nester. Well, almost. Not sure if I am supposed to count my questionable Jack Russell Terrier and temperamental Ragdoll cat.

Since the departure of my last child, I quickly realized that I needed to stay busy at work and around the house as the silence can be deafening. I created a list of projects that had long been filed away in the recesses of my mind. The projects weren’t major in scope, but not fun at all, nonetheless. I truly don’t believe that anyone wakes up in the morning ready to clean out an overstuffed closet of kid’s clothing, old sporting goods and elderly stuffed animals.

When I began the process of removing all of the contents of the closet, I became somewhat nostalgic. My eyes started to leak. There lied her middle school cheerleading bag with her name adorably monogrammed on it. I remember the day she received it, she was over the moon with excitement. As I held it in my hands I could not make sense of why it was so heavy. As I unzipped the relic, my face began to turn a heated shade of red. Not from embarrassment or sadness but from anger. There were water bottles and empty snack bags that began to grow things that should be examined in a lab. As I was shaking my head in disgust I noticed some free range cash in the bag.

Free range cash is a label that I use to describe the cash and coins that I find while doing the laundry or cleaning out drawers and closets. If I find it in the scope of my cleaning, it then immediately becomes mine and there is no search for the rightful owner.

Not only did I find cash and spare change, I also found an unused gift card to the local movie theater. It was at this moment that I was thrown back to my own childhood. When I was in middle school the cost of a movie matinee was two dollars. This sounds like chump change in today’s terms; but I vividly remember my mother and I checking our couch cushions and the bottom of her purse to scrape up enough money for me to go to the movies with friends. My anger quickly turned to sadness. In my younger years I would have been ever so grateful for a gift card and loose cash that I didn’t need. As I kept cleaning the closet, I uncovered more monetary treasures that were left behind. Many dollar bills and loose change.

I just didn’t understand how this kid was loaded with dollars and not much sense, she didn’t even care enough to keep an eye on where it was going or at least keep it all in one place. Was I raising an ungrateful child? I truly thought that I had shared many stories of my struggles in childhood that would make her appreciate the little bit of extras that she was afforded. Instead of focusing on what I perceived as ungratefulness I began to thank the Lord for all of the goodness and mercy that he has shown me and my daughters over the years.

I began praying and asking God to forgive me if I didn’t do such a great job parenting and explaining the importance of dollars and cents. I also started sharing my long list of things to grateful for. I thanked him for my new found cash, movie gift card (wink wink) our health, a roof over our heads, food in the cabinets, transportation, friends, family, jobs we love, and above all… I thanked him for giving us his son.

What are you grateful for? Do you tell the Lord about it often enough? Do you share it with other people? My prayer is that you will always share the goodness of our savior with whoever will listen, even when it does not make sense.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works.”
1 Chronicles 16:8-9

Reba Phelps jreba.phelps@gmail.com