At the end of it all

What do your 'treasures' reveal about you? About your focus in life? About who or what you consider to be important? Did you realize what you treasure most is a good indication of where you will invest the greatest amount of your time and talent? If your 'treasure' is in your family, you likely spend a great deal of time with members of your family, helping them to complete tasks, enjoying leisure pursuits together, and even just 'hanging' in front of the screen watching a good movie at times. If your 'treasure' is in your career, you likely invest a great deal of time, talent, and sometimes even money into that career. You better your education, so you are more proficient at what it is your are doing, looking for the next big move you can make to stay relevant and 'in demand' within your job market. If you don't know where your 'treasure' is, look at where you spend the majority of your time, or focus the greatest part of your attention - that is your treasure.

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Stockpile anything and eventually you will be called a 'hoarder'! While mom was alive, I stockpiled hard candies because she enjoyed sucking on them to keep her mouth moist as her meds made her mouth quite dry. Now that mom is gone, what do I do with a stockpile of butterscotch and peppermint hard candies? She also liked applesauce with her meals, so I stockpiled those tiny cups of the stuff, only to find when I looked at them a couple months ago, they had long since passed their date of safe use! Some stockpiles might just make sense and be quite important because we use the items so frequently - like toilet paper - but when we put a lot of 'stuff' into our lives and cannot really use it before it is no longer of use, then it is just hoarding! We can be guilty of 'over-stuffing' our lives with things and even relationships - all because we don't want to have any empty space. 

Think about what you 'stockpile' in your life. At first, you may not think 'stockpiling' relationships is all that bad - we can never have too many friends, right? The answer to that comes in considering the 'justice' we are doing to each of those relationships by the amount time we invest into them. Some are quite casual - a golf game here or there, an occasional meal out, and perhaps even a couple of calls or texts a month. Others are everyday occurrences - we never go one day without some form of 'reaching out' to the other person. I daresay we do 'justice' to the latter, but not likely the former. It is okay to have lots of friends - but we will have some we hold closer, cherish more, and really know to be our true 'treasures' in life.

Now, when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, I have to meddle a little. How's that one stacking up when it comes to being considered a 'treasure' in your life? Remember, I ask myself these questions before I even pose them to you! Sometimes my life reveals that 'treasure' has slipped down the list a little just because my focus has been taken away from time with him and is being put into other things. I have to pull back sometimes from other 'places of investment' in order to really have the time I need with him, but it is never a wrong choice to make! You and I need that time with him each day - no other 'stockpile' of treasure will quite meet the inward needs of our soul and spirit like spending time alone with him. At the end of it all, what treasures will you have to present at his feet? 

I hope we all have a 'pantry full of treasures' to present - solid relationships that were made stronger through God's grace; careers that flourished because Christ was put first in everything we did; homes that knew the peace of God because we set the tone by that quiet time we took with him each day. We will all have something to present at his feet - something we will view as our 'treasure' - make sure it is the treasure that moth and rust does not corrupt! Just sayin!

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