Treasures on Earth
A year ago we were preparing to move to Florida. While our house was newer, we still needed some projects finished before we could list it. We had a personal goal to be out by fall. Painting, drywall, downsizing, yard work, and various projects kept us working almost nonstop, while continuing the day to day business of life. We said we would list no later than July 1.
We hit the ground running with interested buyers and showings, as often as 2-3 every day. We had such good feedback on the house, we didn’t want to drop the ball. We made sure everything looked great for every showing. We were exhausted.
We had a successful first open house with our realtor and agreed to a second one with a different realtor. He was new to the business and wanted to show our house, since we had so much activity. We thought it would be good to help someone else, and we wanted to sell. However, I ignored the little voice questioning if it was a good idea.
I should have listened. During the second open house, most of my jewelry was stolen. Many pieces were irreplaceable. I had been so careful to hide and lock away valuables, but for whatever reason forgot my jewelry. I must have been more tired than I realized, because forgetting my jewelry was unlike me. After discovering what happened, I was devastated. My exhaustion took over and I was inconsolable.
After the police officer left and things calmed down, I kept hearing this phrase in my head. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” I knew exactly where I’d heard this before . . . the Bible. The whole passage says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” While people were very kind to say I had every right to be upset, I knew the problem with me was bigger. My treasures were in the wrong place.
Moving has a way of showing us what we consider a treasure. Shortly after we moved into our Florida home, we had our PODS delivered. One arrived exactly as we packed it, and the other had been clearly dropped. The items in the dropped POD sustained a lot of damage, including my new digital piano. I walked to my bedroom and cried. Again I heard the same phrase, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” I guess I didn’t learn the lesson the first time.
Do I think God made these things happen? No. I think they would’ve happened anyway. Life happens whether we have God in it or not. I’m not the first person to experience loss. I think those experiences were used to show me my unhealthy relationship to things I considered mine.
This morning one of my friends reposted a picture of us on Facebook. I noticed a ring on my finger and zoomed in to look. I hadn’t seen it in about a year. It was stolen too and I hadn’t realized it. I started to let it bother me, and then I asked myself this question. If I haven't seen the ring in almost a year and didn’t realize it was missing, do I need to get that upset about it?
I decided to do the thing that helped me several months ago, I said a prayer for the people who took my stuff. The problem isn’t that my things got stolen. The problem is someone felt it was okay to steal or worse, felt they had no other choice. My choice is to view my treasure differently and where they’re stored.