Reflections on Treasures...

God has been teaching me a lot lately about the value of treasuring Him more than the things of this world. As we have been cleaning out our home and preparing to sell it, I have gotten rid of MANY MANY things that we do not need. Our society seems to be so focused on things and more things, and I must say, I'm COMPLETELY guilty of being one of those people who likes things. But our reality is, there is just not room to store all these things, nor do we really actually look at or use many of these things all that often. Some of the things that we have been able to get rid of...books, clothes, extra kitchen gadgets or dishes, decorative items...the list goes on and on. There is SUCH freedom in releasing the things of this world!!! We have given away a lot that we just didn't need, and I have taken many trips to the Goodwill in the last few years that we have been married, and Erik has taken some trips, and my mom has taken some trips on our behalf. Hopefully someone else has been able to benefit from our things.

Tonight as I was cleaning off and "de-frocking" our fridge (my aunt reminded me to defrock), I came across a little card that our church gave us this past year. It was titled "Money Matters." There is a great verse on it from Haggai 2:8 which says "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty." In other words, it is all HIS anyway, so why do we try so hard to hold onto it or invest it in things that don't matter? There is also a statement on the card which we were supposed to read and hopefully adopt as our own. It reads, "I recognize that God is the owner of everything. By His power, I will seek to manage the money and assets He has given me for His glory and the eternal good of others." And then there is another great verse from Matthew 6:21 which says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." A great reminder, right?

Lord, help me to redirect my attentions towards you, and remind me that my treasures are all yours. Amen.