We're So Blessed: A Fun 5-Day Family Devotional From CAINSample

Love What You Have

STORY: Taylor’s Treasure Map (Logan)

Growing up in the Cain household was anything but dull. With three young children all close in age, the house was always teeming with laughter and full of raucous games. However, on a particularly dreary day, we found ourselves stuck inside. All the games had been played, all the movies had been watched, and young Taylor and Madison found themselves to be surprisingly quite bored! Toys and books surrounded them on all sides, but the two of them just couldn’t think of anything new to play. As they stared blankly out the living room window, Taylor, the typical leader of the Cain kid crew, devised a plan.

Their old, familiar toys had lost a bit of their luster, but Taylor thought to herself, What if we could play with our old toys in a new way? Without any explanation, Taylor quietly exited the room. She grabbed Madison’s toy jewelry, which was once used for fun dress-up games but now sat lonely on the floor. Then she picked up a piece of paper and a pen and sneaked silently outside. The idea was simple: Taylor would take the toy jewelry to a remote location within our yard and bury it discreetly. Then, using the paper and pen, she would create a precise treasure map leading directly to the newly buried treasure. Now all she needed was a willing pirate to take part in the search.

Taylor ran inside with wide eyes. “Madison, you have to help! I found this treasure map, and it looks like it leads to something!” Madison’s sense of boredom instantly left her body as she matched Taylor’s excited energy. The search was on! Madison held the map tightly as she zigged and zagged all throughout the yard, following the directions on the map perfectly until . . . eureka! Madison had found the supposed treasure location and began to feverishly dig into the earth with her bare hands. Her digging proved successful as she unearthed her own toy jewelry with her smile a mile wide! She squealed with delight and clung to the toy jewelry like it was her most prized possession—so thankful to have successfully found this old, familiar toy. Thanks to Taylor’s creativity, the same toy jewelry that had seemed worn out moments earlier was now Madison’s most valuable treasure. Taylor could have given up on this day and succumbed to boredom, but she chose to rediscover the love for something she already had on hand. Ultimately, she realized the real treasure all along was creating a fun memory that she and Madison would cherish forever.

Much like a beloved toy we’ve taken for granted, we can often lose our sense of love and wonder for the ultimate gift of Jesus as our Lord. We initially accept Jesus’ love and unmerited grace for us with such delight and gratefulness, but as the difficulties and repeated rhythms of life set in, our delight and gratefulness can sadly decline. Scripture challenges us to reverse this decline and grow our faith by letting our roots grow down deep into Him and building our lives on Him. When we choose to organize our lives around Jesus, we will continually rediscover our love for Him and our thankfulness for His presence.

Reflection Questions

• When we first accept Jesus as our Lord, we often do so with excitement and thankfulness. But as we experience life and its struggles, this sense of excitement and thankfulness can start to wither. What does today’s passage say we can do to combat this from happening?

• When we continue with Jesus and let our lives be built on Him, the scripture says our faith will grow and we will overflow with thankfulness. How have you noticed your faith growing? What are some specific elements in your life for which you are thankful?

• What is a practical way that you could reinvigorate your faith?

Activity

It’s time to take a page out of young Taylor’s book. One person gets to be the hider and everyone else is a seeker. The hider takes a familiar household item and hides it secretly in the house (or you can even bury it in the yard with your parents’ permission). Then the hider creates a map that will lead the seekers to the hidden treasure. See how long it takes for the seekers to find the hidden item!