We’re taking a short break from our series in Proverbs and will return in a couple of weeks.
Today’s scripture: Matthew 6:19-21 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (David Zier):
When I was at college in Florida in the early 1980s, I met an older woman, Marion Baker, who was very active with Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and Gay Community Services (GCS) in central Florida. She was also the receptionist at the USDA facility where I worked during my first year of college.
A few years later, she experienced cancer, was treated, but then it recurred and spread, and she did not have much time to live. I was living in Maryland at the time and had not seen her in almost 10 years.
Upon hearing the news, I took the train to New Smyrna, just south of Daytona, to spend a weekend with her at her daughter’s home. She was important to me because she was like a mother to me when I was coming out. I was alone in Florida, and she provided a motherly figure in my life when I had no family around. Within days after I returned home, she was on her way to meet Jesus.
I spent time with her daughter that weekend helping to sort out belongings and “stuff” that had been in Marion’s home prior to the decline in her health. I remember looking at the furniture, the lamps, clothes, and boxes of stuff and at first seeing Marion in the things that she had, but then realizing how this stuff did not really matter. What mattered was the treasure that Marion left in my heart, what she meant to my life, and to many, many others. Marion did not just treasure people — she planted a treasure in each heart she came in contact with.
In today’s passage, the message is clear: where we put our treasure, there our hearts will be. But I think we need to remember that we are supposed to give our treasure away, and be generous with what we have. Marion’s treasure was not in her stuff, but with people she cared deeply about. She showed God’s grace and love to all of God’s creatures, and brought a little more of heaven here to earth.
Thought for the day: What do you do with your treasures? Are you storing up your treasures on earth, or are you living a generous life and sharing the treasure of Jesus with others?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.