Treasured – a book review

Prepare to be captivated from the introduction of this book. Leigh McLeroy presents her journey through the receipt of a cigar box filled with mementos from her grandfather. She explains how looking through those varied and unusual things brought insight into the man she’d loved.

Using the same premise, she unpacks the cigar box of the Bible, lifting each piece carefully from it, turning it, examining it and then using its clues to determine the character of the One who placed it there.

She looks at a fig leaf, an olive sprig, a dry waterskin, a knife, a strip of cloth, a piece of wood, a bell, a cord, a crop and more, each one examining an area in our lives that leaves room for improvement. Whether it’s shame or judgement, God has something in His cigar box to show us how He really feels about it.

What I really like about this  book is that Ms. McLeroy doesn’t just leave off with all those wonderful character traits of God. She unpacks her own cigar box, including a piece of slate and her first Bible. Through the things in her box, she shares her history with God.

As the infomercials go, “But WAIT! There’s more!”

Before closing out, Ms. McLeroy introduces a guide for personal reflection or group study. As any good teacher would do, she refuses to let the story end without some sort of life application.

I found this book to be both heartwarming and challenging. The writing is superb, carrying one first to the author’s home, in a private place, where she opens the box of “Pepaw’s things”. The reader is able to “see” each item as she lifts it from the box, then recalls the memory it evokes.

The writing in the rest of the book is just as good, taking us from the today, commonplace things we live with to the Creator and His plan for that area. While the reader might sit and read this book in a day, I would suggest a better way might be to slow down and digest a chapter at a time, letting the concept of God’s grace in each item overwhelm and excite.

I’d definitely give this one a thumbs up. Maybe two.

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