Searching With Joy & Anticipation

One early weekend morning, Tom and I went to a flea market where I found this book, The Housekeeper's Scrapbook, for $5. The copyright says 1911. 

I'd discovered a treasure! In only one place online have I seen this book for sale: it is being offered for $250.



And well, of course, that's nice. But it's not a treasure to me because it appears to be worth much more than what I paid. Rather, it's because of its drawings and of what it represents, namely, a piece of history leftover from the days when housekeeping was considered an art form.


Of course, I still believe keeping and decorating a house is an art form, but it's wonderful having something which I can hold in my hands to reaffirm that fact.

Other names of rooms not pictured here? The Breakfast Room. The Sick-Room. The Outdoor Sleeping Room. The Conservatory and Sun Parlor. Nooks, Corners and Den. And many others which bring pictures of the post-Victorian, early-Craftsman era to my dreamy-minded head.

And of course, as seen here, The Billiard and Ballroom. We all have one of those, right?  シ



Sometimes we need to be reminded that the search for treasure can be exciting, that is, unless we turn it into a frenzied must-have-it-now all-consuming yearning. 

No earthly treasure is worth that. 

Only God, Himself, was meant to be searched for with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

And He is the best treasure of them all.


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