As I think back, the blond-colored box was not at all that fancy, but he made it strong and sturdy. It was white pine, unstained but buffed and varnished. My grandfather built this wooden box to be my “Hope Chest.” Some might not even know what that is. It came from a time when a dowry was paid to the groom or the groom’s family when the couple was married. I filled it with heirlooms from our family, as well as household items. In the recent past, it was just a collection of things to be used as a new wife. To me, it was just a hope that I would get married someday. This was an era when me at twenty-one was almost considered an “Old Maid” by some. Maybe this prompted my grandpa to build this keeper of all things marriage for me.

Upon receiving my beautiful chest, I collected items to be put in there with hopes I would be a wife someday. The way I filled the box to overflowing was to buy things from traveling salesmen that would often come to our door. I collected dishes, silverware, and pans with a payment of $4.00 a month for the rest of my natural life.

At the time my then boyfriend, later my husband, was not looking to marry soon; but I continued to gather like a bird building a nest. I put in doilies that belonged to my grandma and collectable dishes from my aunt. One of the last things I bought to fill it was a huge family bible which was normally displayed opened in a prominent place in the home, and a set of children’s bible stories. If I remember right, it was a set of three hardback burgundy books set in a container to sit on a shelf to display the lovely set. One was a geography book with maps for every journey anyone ever took in bible times. They filled the smaller one with colorful pictures to go with several parables of Christ. The biggest one was a bible written for a child’s understanding and pictures scattered throughout.

Larry and I married, and we moved my simple hope chest to our first apartment filled with things to be used as I learned to be a wife. Soon I was using dishes and silverware, along with dish towels, bath towels and placemats to set the table. Less than a year later, Larry and I accepted the Lord into our hearts and home. Because we hadn’t ever read the bible before, the simple stories for children in the three-piece set fed these baby Christians like a mama bird feeding her hungry chicks. David and Goliath came alive, Noah’s Ark became real to us, and Jesus, in a manger, warmed our hearts as we read through the story at Christmas time.

Then, and now, over fifty years later, we found that the Real Hope is the Jesus we found in the burgundy set of children’s bible stories brought to my door by a traveling salesman.

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16 ESV)

“I have put my hope in your word.” (Psalm 119:114 NIV)

Jeanie Nihiser
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)