Real Treasure

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods". Luke 12:18

  “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”  This was true when the late poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said it and it certainly remains true today.   In our modern high tech world one can barely resist the snare of the latest gadget, the flashiest screen, the sleekest model or the most eye-appealing product. If we can't purchase it new we will readily buy it second hand. And it's not as if we actually need the coveted contrivance, fashion, or edible entree; sometimes we just want to be able to say "I had it".  

  But surprisingly, I am not about to rain on any one's parade concerning getting your latest gadget groove. (At least not today). I do believe that one should enjoy their life to the fullest extent and that there are no rules save to do no one else harm.  No, today I am in a different mindset and it primarily deals with benevolence; the desire to do good for others; charitableness; good will.  Like many of you, I watch television and movies. I watch programs about the life styles of the rich and famous. Through these mediums I have learned about the luxury of a Bentley and the sexiness of a Maybach without ever having laid my hands on them. The Housewives of Atlanta have shown all of us how to get a house on the hill and furnish it with things you can't even pronounce. And, of course, Kim and the rest of the Kardashians have given most of America that "I want to be so filthy rich that I can do anything and it will be right" attitude.  But when it's time for bed because you have three kids to get off to school in the morning and you are a single parent or you have 4 hours of sleep before getting to your second job or you are 31 years old and you still live with your parents or you are doing all that you honestly know how to do and you simply cannot get ahead; you know you have to return to reality. 

  I guess the simple fact is this; stop trying to get your million dollars here on earth and be more concerned with storing up treasures in Heaven by practicing compassion and unselfishness to others. Truth be told; if I had it to give a thousand times a day I most likely would. I wish the world would sing the same song of LOVE.

 Have a great week.
 Dennis