Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'

(Church of Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

A year into our marriage, my husband Adrian and I were posted to Cyprus. I was nineteen, and we spent the next three years working from 7am-1pm five days a week for the RAF. This left a lot of time for leisure, and we could be on the beach (50 yards from our flat) by 1.30pm. We were involved in the Station Church, Adrian as a server and myself in the choir. We both acted in the international theatre group, and I sang with choral society. It was a wonderful three years, and allowed us to visit Palestine, accompanied by my mother, for whom it was a highlight.

As we prepared to return to the UK I looked forward to getting our boxes out of storage. I couldn't remember all the things we'd left, but I was looking forward to getting back the books I'd had as a child. Then the day came when we opened the last box, only to be shocked by the fact that many of the contents were coloured with an orange stain. The corner of the box had been damaged and some liquid had leaked into the box. We never found out what had happened, but it ruined a lot of my favourite books and I was devastated.

I was reminded of this incident on reading the parable from St Matthew's Gospel, above. Fifty-two years later with a pandemic raging the loss of my precious books seems totally unimportant now. Earthly things are not secure and do not last. Only the things of God, and His love for us, are important. This is treasure that cannot be destroyed!

Heavenly Father,
help us to remember
that the things of this world,
no matter how important at the time,
do not last,
and that You call us to work for things eternal
that will gather us treasure in heaven.
Amen.