The Keeper

I am the keeper.

Of old letters and black and white photos.

A roll of undeveloped film… or is it an unused roll?

Of newspaper clippings and report cards and school photos

Family bibles and notes tucked in them

Of stories

I am not a keeper of stuff. Unwanted clothes, usable things we’ve replaced and books read (with some exceptions) get donated. But I’m the keeper of family things. Maybe it’s because our family split when I was 13 or maybe it’s because the split turned into living across country from one parent or maybe….maybe it’s me trying to hold it all together.

Maybe I’m just a keeper.

There is a kind of closeness or, perhaps, connection that these faded clippings and black and white photos represent. A thread that’s continually woven from one generation to another.

All of these kept things sit in boxes or on shelves. They’re seldom seen but they are there. Like the stories inside us, there, accessible when needed. Even if the need is just to remember another time or someone gone.

Of all the things I keep I hope the most important, or maybe evident, is faith. I’m not sure if faith can be passed down. I think a time comes when we have to decide to keep it or let it go. I decided to keep it.

When I was a teenager it was ‘cool’ to say to a friend ‘keep the faith’. When I said it to one of my friends his response was “No. Don’t keep it. Pass it on.” So I guess my parents passed it on as their parents passed it on to them. But, the time came when I had to decide if I wanted to keep it. It looks different from the faith they carried. Yet, it is so much the same.

Yes, I’m the keeper of many things I hold precious and dear. Yet, none as vital and necessary in this life as faith.

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.

Hebrews 11:1, 2 the Message