Special Treasures

I almost saved our last local newspaper. As a writer, I love the written word. I love holding the paper in my hand. And here was a piece of history I could save. The final print edition. The final print run.

But then I remembered how I spent my weekend.

I helped a friend clean out a parent’s apartment. A desk filled with old papers and documents. Drawers stuffed with clothes that didn’t fit and hadn’t been worn in years. Knickknacks and stuffed animals covered the shelves and tables. Ninety-one years of memories. Ninety-one years of special treasures collected and saved.

But why are we saving these treasures? Why are we saving clothing that we’ll probably never fit into again? Why are we saving old documents that we no longer need?

“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
1 Timothy 6:7

We can’t take it with us when we go. So maybe we can let it go now. Let’s keep the memories in our hearts and minds—take a photo for a keepsake if needed—and let the physical things go. Pass them on to someone that needs them more than us.

When my Aunt Daisy passed away, the nursing home gave us a box with her special treasures. I remember at the time thinking how sad. Her life ends and all that remains is this small box with a few photographs and a blanket packed inside. But it isn’t the contents of the box that were important. It was the memories of Aunt Daisy. The memories of a life well lived. Of a life well loved.

“For where your treasure is,” Jesus reminds us, “there your heart will be also.” What special treasures are we keeping around that pull our focus? Where is our heart right now?

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
- Matthew 6:19-21

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