Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

I found myself in a thrift store the other day looking at books. One of the things that struck me was how many of them had inscriptions, names, or the like in them. It was the same with other items too. I saw toys with kids’ names on them and cookware with the former owner’s too.

Each of these items was one of the countless number that stock the shelves of the countless number of thrift stores here in town.

Of course, these stores thrive by selling these items at a fraction of their original cost. Most of these things are a step away from a trash can and given as a kind of last resort as homes, garages, and attics are cleared out. As kids go to college their toys stay behind. As cooks get new cookware or go on the the heavenly banquet their tools of trade stay here. As readers move on to a new series or genre their old books need a new home.

These stores are full not just of merchandise or misfit goods—they are full of stories. The value of the items there is not material (though many were quite costly at one time). The cookware represents how many meals those cooks made with love. The books are a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom accrued. The toys are the signs of how fast kids grow up and leave behind the toys that delighted them some Christmas long ago.

The stores are full of the stuff but they don’t tell the whole story. What remains are the memories of those childhoods, meals, and stories. The experiences were the real inheritance each of those individuals will leave behind long after the stuff has lost its value. I hardly remember gifts I got when I was a kid but I remember the lights, the togetherness, and the love shared.

That’s what our real inheritance is—it’s what we will pass on when the stuff fades on some shelf or another. The way we live our lives will be the lasting testimony to a life well lived. We’re stewards of stories, memories, and dreams. And that is a priceless thing.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert