C is for COLLECTION

Mum used to cover the doors of her kitchen cupboards with postcards, few of which, if indeed any, had been sent to her through the post. She would collect them when she went to a seaside resort for a day or when she was on one of her several holidays to Scotland with dad. And they were all very similar, usually portraying a scene from a bygone age and invariably including animals somewhere in the picture. There were plenty of shots of dogs, sheep, donkeys and cattle and little reminisces of rural Ireland over the past sixty or so years, with old signposts, isolated phone boxes, senior citizens perching on stone walls or near gates and the occasional antique tractor or car just zooming into view. I guess they reminded her of times she knew well and didn’t want to forget and when we went off to the coast, we usually ended up in a gift shop, looking to add to her collection. Usually, the only problem was trying to choose a scene that she was not already displaying on one of her doors, so sometimes there was the odd duplicate occupying a free space.

I wasn’t averse to collecting things myself, probably beginning with football cards that came with a small piece of pink, flat chewing gum which had a slightly fruity taste and was, theoretically, bubble gum. I never cared much for the stuff for it was as hard as a piece of cardboard and took tremendous effort to mould into any other shape without it breaking into a hundred tiny pieces inside your mouth. Anyway, I had a fair collection of cards, built up from too many visits to the sweetie shop across the road from school and also from the swaps with other kids in my class. Time doesn’t seem to have changed much for there are several boys in my present primary school class who are still collecting football cards, except the whole presentation and accompanying folder are much more sophisticated and there is now no chewing gum. How lucky are they!

Around the same time, I also began to take an interest in stamp collecting. It seemed to be all the rage and I remember my sister and I each had a album which contained stamps from relatives in USA and Canada and also an assortment of local stamps commemorating certain events, like the 1966 World Cup. I even joined a stamp club, as some of you probably did also and received my magnifying glass, forceps, membership badge and certificate and a few packets of stamps from other countries around the world. After a while though, with a sizeable collection in my album, I found I got more of a kick from getting stamps through neighbours, friends and relatives rather than from an big company somewhere in England.So I took to collecting coins, in the beginning, mostly dollars and cents that my great uncle in California left after a visit home, but also old coppers and silver before we went decimal. I also collected a set of rare silver football coins that Esso used to give away with petrol, sometime prior to one of the World Cups. Each one had an England player engraved on it and the whole set, about twenty or so, sat neatly into a presentation folder that amounted to little more than a piece of very stiff cardboard with little circles cut out to hold each coin. I still collect coins but not in any structured way, but simply a couple of mugs full of metal discs that some of us brought home from other countries during holidays. For a while I also collected silly ties but that was probably just a growing phase, though wife reminds me that it was only a few years ago!

I suppose we have had similar collections in our house to those found elsewhere, namely CDs, DVDs, shoes, books, comics, shells, magazines and toys though I don’t think I’ll mention our cushion collection, which is now sitting at sixty eight and rising!The only collection that I have which has never changed over the years is the collection of books that make up the Bible. Though I may use a different translation from time to time, it still starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation and still contains the same great truths as it always did. And the great thing about it is that every book is there for a reason, from the creation, the birth of a nation, through the love story of Ruth and Boaz, the bravery and foolishness of David,the traumas of Job and the foresight of Elijah and other great prophets all preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah and the growth of His church through His disciples. It's not a collection that I ever grow weary of reading for there is always something new in its pages and something old that I have forgotten. And maybe it's time I started showing it to others. Jesus said 'But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.' After all, what is the point of a collection if you can't share it!