The Lord's Treasury Box

With all of the emphasis upon stewardship this fall in the synod, our conferences and in our congregations, my mind for some reason flashed back to my childhood and the Lord’s Treasury Box.

It was a small, white, plastic box with a cross on the top. It was given to me during confirmation instruction in 1954. It always sat on top of my dresser in my bedroom. That little plastic box has shaped my stewardship practice until this very day. We were instructed to take off the top ten percent of any income received. The instruction was very clear that what was to go to God must come out first.

I mowed lawns and raked leaves for income during my junior high days. Income from mowing lawns averaged between $.50 for a small lawn to $1.50 for an average lawn all the way up to $3.50 for the largest lawn. Of course, all I had was a push hand mower. I was always paid in cash and I can remember coming home and taking 10 percent out and placing it in the Lord’s Treasury Box. It was not big money, but nickels and dimes and occasionally quarters.

When Sunday came, my offering to the Lord came out of that white plastic box. I can remember the faith struggle when occasionally I was paid big money for some task, like $10. The temptation was always to hold back. But that white plastic box setting on the dresser was a constant, visual reminder of our Lord’s gracious claim on my life and money.

When my father died and we broke up the house, I looked and looked for that little white box. I could not find it. I do not know what happened to it. I looked in the Augsburg/Fortress catalog in vain. I do know that little, white, plastic box with a cross on the top – and the instruction that went with it – has shaped my stewardship life to this very day.

I did not give my children such a tool when they were young. I do not know why. Perhaps I thought it was too hokey. I was wrong. They are active in congregations and I know they give but I wish they had received this tool as well.

I wish I would have given a Lord’s Treasury Box to all of the confirmation students over the years. We talked about stewardship and giving but there was no Lord’s Treasury Box passed out. I was visiting in one of our congregations recently and the pastor was talking about what shaped his stewardship and he mentioned the Lord’s Treasury Box. I could hardly believe my ears. It had the same impact on him as it did on me.

Of course, there was nothing magical about that little plastic box. It was the sharing by an adult, and a visual tool, that God used to work on me. Is it possible that most of our stewardship efforts are too late? The real formation of my stewardship life came as a 12-year-old that persists to this very day. I wonder what ever happened to that little white, plastic box with a cross on the lid that sat on my dresser for years. Even though it is long gone, I count it as one of the treasures of my faith journey. I thank God for that little white, plastic box with a cross on the lid that was called the Lord’s Treasury Box.