Alyssa has been reading “Little House on the Prairie” for school and I’ve read it again (for about the tenth time!) to refresh my memory. When I was young, I loved those books. I wanted to be Laura Ingalls and live in those times. And I loved her writing and dreamed of being an author like her someday.

After reading what I needed to for school, I wanted to keep reading. I read the entire series again. Then I went to the library and got a biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder. They have found that she kept a list of Bible verses next to her chair and she had them listed by category – what to read when happy, what to read when troubles come, etc. Her favorite Bible verse, however, was Matthew [6:19]-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” She was someone who faced so many difficulties in life, especially early in her life. She was never a rich lady and there were plenty of times she and her family were hungry – very hungry. Grasshoppers and storms and drought ruined crops and her restless father had difficulty finding steady work.

But she learned the lesson to be grateful for the simple things in life. What you have on this earth is not what is important, but what you have awaiting you in heaven. She took pleasure in the things the Lord did provide for her – a sunrise painting the sky with a full palette of colors, cool green grass tickling her toes, the lowing of cows, the blue canopy of the sky overhead, Ma and Pa and Mary and Carrie and Grace. As I read through the books this time, I was also overcome by how they all trusted in Providence for everything.

I will never get to live in those times and I will probably never be as famous of an author, but I can learn from Laura Ingalls Wilder. I will rejoice in my family sitting around our kitchen table enjoying a bowl of piping hot chili, the powdery dusting of snow topping the ornamental grass heads in my garden this morning, the wind in my hair, the warmth of the heat blasting through the vent next to my feet, the song of my children’s laughter. The simple things in life, precious treasures from the hand of the Lord.