My daughter proudly brings me a basket full of play food. She wants me to help her feed her farm animals. I oblige and pour out the contents of the basket. Not only is it full of plastic food but it has dress up jewelry, sunglasses, and several other trinkets. I see this is her treasure. This basket she filled especially for this task.
Would it be so easy to find my treasure?
Would it be so obvious to others?
If you’re following along in The Respect Dare, Dare 15 starts with a robbery of thousands of dollars in cash.
I imagine the thought of this amount of money just *poof* disappearing. And I feel pain. I know how hard it is to save to a goal and not get to see it realized. I know what it’s like to scrimp and save for years only to have a long hospitalization, a baby, a totaled car, a flat tire, and more.
And as much as all of that stuff frustrates me, brings me down, makes me feel like the finish line is a mirage, it’s not my treasure. But I’ll admit that I treat it like my treasure sometimes.
Or what about my house or my stuff. “No don’t spill that.” “No, you’ll ruin that.” “No, sorry we can’t lend you that.” Yes, I believe we have to be good stewards of what we have and take the best care of that we can, but this isn’t our treasure either.
Or my time? My attention? Actions speak louder than words.
So when I scoop up my kids, one in each arm at the grocery store or first thing in the morning, and my daughter says “Look at those cutie kids!” but the man in the car next to us says it looks at us and says “Well don’t you have your hands full?” my actions and words get to show my treasure.
“My hands aren’t as full as my heart.” or “Yes, full of lots of blessings.”
Or for my husband – picking up a special treat he likes but we don’t normally get, picking out a foodie documentary, or stopping by to see him at work. He needs to see, to feel, to touch that he’s my treasure through what I do, not just what I say.
My priorities get all out of whack sometimes. I get all worked up about the day and forget about the big picture.
Luke 12
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Yes, we have kids to feed. Ourselves to feed. Bills to pay. Good stewardship over the things we own or the place we live in.
But those aren’t our treasures.
And we have to remember to act like it.
Matthew 6
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I dare you today to think about if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you remembered to thank God for today. Allow this truth to guide how you give thanks and realize your true treasures.
And then share in the comments. I’d love to hear about this.
Thanks for sharing with me today. What a joy to get to do life with you.
Be sure to check out The Respect Dare blogging team – Nina, author of The Respect Dare: 40 Days to a Deeper Connection with God and Your Husband and Debbie, especially for parents of teens, tweens, and twenty-somethings, and you can subscribe to me in the sidebar. And connect with me on twitter @LeahHeffner and on faceboook on The Respect Dare community page.
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