Notes from the Pastor’s Wife – Treasure

By Cheryll Parr

A friend of mine calls me the bag lady. Well, that’s probably true. I have a long history of “thrift-storing” and yard-sale searching. I love digging through bags looking for something, who knows what, but I love the hunt.

For example, right after college, I had a great apartment in the upstairs of a huge Victorian home in Covington. My parents, being life-long antique dealers, would get bags and bags of old clothes and let me go through them before they’d cut them up for rags. My friends would come over and go through the bags with me and we would push them into piles to make places to sit along-side my antique furniture, also given to me by my parents.

I had the most unique furniture in town and it was new, to me, every time I got a new shipment. And then, while working at Longhorn in Conyers, I would work a lot of doubles (great tips there!) and during my break, I’d grab a Dr. Pepper and a Snickers and hit my favorite thrift store in Jonesboro. Oh, the treasure I would find there! Lately, I find myself frequenting Goodwill and Bell’s grocery in Covington.

And if you haven’t discovered the yard sales in Monticello, you are doing a grave injustice to yourself, people here have great taste and their second hand clothes are as good as retail!

I don’t believe that buying used or buying on sale is for those who are down on their luck or for the poverty minded. I really think it is being wise with the money that you work so hard for, and why work all those extra hours to buy retail when you could be spending those hours with your family and friends? I vote for fun with the kids.

And did I mention that you will have a place to find your treasure here in Monticello? Be looking for it, we will be opening a thrift-store below Val’s Red Clay Café in the next few weeks. The thrift store’s entrance will be around back through the alley. Sorry to say, you will not be able to enter through the Galleria upstairs. No problem!

In fact I suggest that you go in and shop their wonderful art, antiques, and decorative items first, sit down and have a terrific breakfast or lunch at the café, then come around and see us! And for those of you who want to donate all of your goodies, please give us a couple weeks, we are in the process of painting and setting-up the store.

This is not a push for the store; I am really trying to tell you that you are not the only one searching for treasure, or maybe just a good deal.
And quite frankly, you need to know that the material goods you search for are just a substitute for spiritual treasure; the kind that fills the void in your heart, that heals the storm in your head. The treasure that gives you peace during the chaos and confusion in your daily walk.
Jesus can be YOUR special treasures, that once in a lifetime find, that new excitement everyday. Seek Him, and you WILL find Him, he is not hiding, just waiting.
Peace and love,
Cheryl