Remember that time we thought..

So I spent a good portion of yesterday with Trey coming up with things we would do if we just happen to be given a thousand bucks apiece. ...don't ask why.  And wow.. I think I learned more about myself in that hour than I have in the past month.  What would I do if I were handed $1,000 to do with as I please? I think the answer to that question for any of us says a lot about who we are deep down. Would we stash it away? Invest it? Go out and blow every bit of it on whatever the heck we wanted.. because after all, it was a gift. Would we give it to a cause we believe in? If so, how much? 10%, 50%, all of it? The situation reminded me of a line from the greatest book ever.. as most things like this do. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21

So very true. Think about it. What have you invested most of your time and money into? The broad answer for most of us would be "ourselves" without a doubt. At least that is true of me.. and what do I really care about most? Deep down.. if I'm brutally honest the answer is myself. There are, of course, many sub-categories to this principle. Like what about myself have I spent the most on? 

If you want to know what someone cares the most about, just open up their checkbook. Where does that person spend most of their money? On their car? Their house? Their designer wardrobe? All of the above? Remember that scene in Fight Club when Edward Norton's character has his apartment blown up? Remember what he was so concerned about? The ying-yang coffee table, the matching curtains, his recently completed wardrobe. He had spent so much time arranging his little life just the way he wanted it. He strived for it to be perfect. And after all of that time, that effort, that money.. it was all blown away in a moment. Gone- all of it. That's the trouble with investing in things of this world. The verse above is best understood in context, so here it is.. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

While most of the things that we surround ourselves with today could be gone tomorrow, there are a few things that will remain. The toys and trappings of this physical world will one day dissolve like snow, but the souls of people will last forever. So knowing that, why don't I invest more in people? Why not give time and money to make someone's life better? Why not help a kid out through an organization like Compassion International go to school, afford food and clothes.. things I so easily take for granted. Why not take a hour or two out of my week and go read to some kids.. make a difference in their lives. Why not run down to the soup kitchen and help out now and then? Why in the world do I invest more in earthly things than I do eternal things. Why?! It's like I know this.. but I forget it all so easily.

Until later..

JK