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Love Your Life Friday: Memory Keepers with Lynn Cowell

Love Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.com

I’m the kind of gal who likes to have a home that is pretty. More than pretty though, I want to surround myself and my family with pretty things that have meaning to us. The waterfall we stumbled upon is now captured in a photograph above our fireplace. The pottery dish was discovered in a small, garage turned pottery shop on a roadside.

Some of my favorite decorations are my memory keepers. If you spotted one, you might think they are simply clear jars with similar items inside. But to me, they are precious triggers of wonderful days.

Soaps and Scouring

Love Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.comA few years ago, my husband and I discovered the fun of antiquing together (honestly, it’s more like junk picking!) In the high country of North Carolina, we began to notice these beautifully wrapped squares in so many of the shops. We found that these colorful soaps are created right here in North Carolina. Finding an old Mason jar, Greg and I began to pick up a soap or two each time we ventured out, one for each season of the year. The bottom of the jar has autumn wrapped soaps, then winter, spring and summer. Each time I step into my bathroom and see this jar, I am reminded of the days we’ve spent together rummaging through the hills of North Carolina.

Sticks and Stones

Love Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.com

With a map and a backpack filled with snacks, my man I and like to head out into the woods. Each hike we take leads us to a new adventure. While I love to snap up pictures that we can look at for years to come, you can only hang so many frames on a wall!

So Greg had the idea to collect one thing from each hike we take. It might be a pinecone, bit of moss, a rock or a bit of bark. When we return from our adventure, we plunk our treasure down into this clear cylinder. Again, to others, it may look like a vase filled with … who knows what! To Greg and I, it represents hours spent traipsing through the beautiful Blue Ridge of North Carolina.

What might you collect and create a memory keeper?

You might not antique or adventure in the woods, but what could you gather that could be a reminder of special days to you?

When my children were little, we loved to go to the beach. An apothecary jar on my mantel reminds me of days at the ocean. Love Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.com

I have one friend who collects coasters from restaurants their family goes to and another who purchases from pens from vacation spots.

I’d like to say the idea of collecting memorials was my own, but honestly, I learned it from those who began collecting long ago.

In Joshua 4, the Lord tells Joshua to have each tribe choose a stone from the land and carry it with them to the Promised Land. There, they were to set up the stones as a memorial of all that the Lord had done for them. He said, “…When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” Joshua 4:6b-7 (ESV)

Love Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.com

These memory jars for me are reminders of God’s faithfulness to my family and triggers for me to begin conversations with my kids of the importance of marriage and family.

Do you have collections that provide a place for happy memories to reside in your home? I’d love to hear about them!

Lynn CowellLove Your Life Friday Memory Keepers at KarenEhman.com is a Proverbs 31 speaker and the author of several books including “Magnetic: Becoming the Girl He Wants”. Lynn helps set women of all ages on the path toward wise choices by leading them to the only love that can fill the love gap in their hearts. Her husband and their three children (all in college) live in North Carolina where they love hiking, rafting and anything combining chocolate and peanut butter. Connect with her more at www.LynnCowell.com.

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