How many keys do you own?
In the times of castles and kings, the lady of the house would wear a chain call the Chatelaine. It held many priceless items like, needle case, assorted keys, small vial of perfume, and sometimes a small pair of scissors shaped like a bird. The keys were often to wine cellars, and spice cupboards, as these things were very expensive and had to be kept under lock and key. The chatelaine was also used as a woman’s key chain in the 19th century to show the status of women in a household. The woman with the keys to all the many desks, chest of drawers, food hampers, pantries, storage containers, and many other locked cabinets was “the woman of the household”. As such, she was the one who would direct the servants, housemaids, cooks and delivery servicemen and would open or lock the access to the valuables of the house, possessing total authority over who had access to what. Frequently, this hostess was the senior woman of the house. When a woman married and moved into her father-in-law’s house, her husband’s mother would usually hold on to the keys. However, if the mother became a widow, the keys and their responsibilities and status were often passed to the oldest son’s wife. With the wearing of the chattel line came a great responsibility, and she would rarely let the keys out of her possession.
Although the ladies of today do not wear their keys around their waist on a chain we do own an amazing amount of them. We have keys to our house and keys to our cars and keys to the garages and keys to the freezer and keys to quad runners, skidoos, and boats etc. Many men do where chains that hold their key rings because the weight of the key ring has a tendency to make their pants sag.
Have you ever lost your keys? Do you have extra keys hidden in the event that you may misplace a key? Are your children latchkey kids who let themselves in after school to wait until you get off work and come home to make their dinner. Where do they keep their keys on the lanyard around their neck? Or in their book bags perhaps?
Keys can open up the throttle of doors and cabinets and safes, holding much of the world’s precious possessions. But like so many other things that we hold in great value none of them can be taken with us after we leave this earth.
Jesus has told us that he will give us the keys to the kingdom and what we bind here on earth we will bind in heaven. He is not speaking of worldly possessions but of spiritual possessions. He often speaks of treasures that will be corrupted by rust and mold, saying these are not things we should work for in our lifetime. It is my fervent wish that we all take a step back and think about all the keys we possess and what they will open in heaven.
As parents we need to teach our children the importance of accumulating stuff. Or shall I say the unimportance of accumulating stuff. One of the greatest gifts you can ever give your child does not require a key, but the good sense of appreciating what they have and not want something just for the sake of having it. Whether we eat or drink or what so ever we should do should do to the glory of God.
We as authors tend to make our heroes and heroines work for worldly stuff. I would challenge you to make the characters in your stories to aim higher by doing good works for other people and not thinking of themselves all the time. You can only have so many keys before you forget what each one opens. I inherited a coffee can full of keys that are now nothing but decorations on a wall, for their value is gone. Do you have what you value behind a lock in a key, or is it something you will share with the world?.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:19
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelations 1:18
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Luke 11:52
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Revelations 20:1
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
Revelations 3:7