But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19.
The Christian calendar is a powerful tool for impressing Christian faith on young hearts. This Christmas season, Mary’s Treasure Box by C.E. Walz was the inspiration for an engaging journey into the Christmas story for our FOCUS(K-2) class.
The premise of the book is that every mother stores precious memories of her children’s early days. This story is set a decade or so after the death and resurrection of Jesus and presents Mary, the mother of Jesus, sharing some of her precious reminders of his birth, stored safely in a treasure box, with his young niece.
We read this story three consecutive weeks in FOCUS and on the third week the children made their own boxes to take home and share the story. To the parents of these children, this post explains what the items are all about. A great way to help our children make this story their own is to have them explain what each item stands for. If you are looking for something meaningful to do in your home, Sunday School or even in a congregational setting this book, along with take home boxes for the kids, is a powerful tool.
It all starts with each child getting a Cardboard box representing Mary’s Box. We had our children move down an assembly line to fill their boxes with the following items.
First a piece of Light Blue Cloth reminding us of the blanket in which baby Jesus was swaddled and the Straw that was in the manger where newborn Jesus rested.
Then there was the Flute played by the angels for the Shepherds on the night baby Jesus was born. And the Wool, given by the Shepherds to Mary and Joseph to keep baby Jesus warm.
Also, we had items to represent the gifts of the three magi. A small Gold Bracelet – fit for an infant, a Small Brown Box with Marbles representing the gift of frankincense, and a Small Glass Bottle symbolizing the myrrh.
I commend this book Mary’s Treasure Box to you and hope it will be a blessing to your family and/or church. For a printable list of items for your box go to my Holiday Resources page. May God bless you as you continually seek to impress God’s love on the children around you.
In Him, Wes