Treasure

Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  Matthew 6:19-24 

When I was a child I was totally captivated by treasure maps and pirate stories. We lived by the ocean and my imagination ran wild with all the stories of coastal pirates and shipwrecks. My friends and I would scour the beach, looking for great prizes that washed up. We would find some treasures, old toys battered by the surf, fishing tackle, buoys and other great prizes. We would delight in every found object and make up stories of how they had washed up. We weren't really worried about wealth but more we were fixated on the possibility of exotic adventure.

Jesus is teaching his disciples about the true value of life. We can easily get caught up in winning, in earnings to make ourselves comfortable, of being the best in our generation. We can obsess about all sorts of things from fashion, to looks, to the symbols of status - houses and car - to the complete detriment of our souls. He reminds us that out focus is to be about love, for God, neighbor and self, so that we can have treasure both in earth and in heaven. It is so easy to get off track and we are invited to invest and reinvest in the true treasures of life.

Today I ask God to help me live in gratitude for the treasures I truly have - love from God which blesses me in so many ways, with dear family, friends and colleagues. Let us not pine for romantic notions of wealth but rather be saturated in the love that surrounds us and makes us truly blessed.