Thoughts for the Day

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Are you a person that lives each day by examining your past - how well did something go, or what did someone say to you months ago? Or do you live in the future - making plans for what you will do next year, deciding where you would like to live, or what holiday you would like to go on? In my family my husband seemed to remember every person and event back to his childhood, but rarely had any plans for the future. Whereas one son and I plan our future with optional alternatives in case one plan doesn't work out. For me, this probably occurred because I spent many years moving from one Army or Air Force married quarter to another. Despite all my multiple plans though I didn't quite expect the future that evolved.

Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool to remind us not to get too caught up in planning for the future, for we do not know what our future will be. The last few years have taught us all that the future is not secure, as we learnt from the Covid pandemic, and war in Europe and the Middle East. But it's not just that. The world seems more dangerous, whether it's because of computer scams, internet hi-jacking, or children carrying knives into school, none of us quite expected all these things to happen!

The message of Jesus is stark. We need to stop planning our entire life and gathering more and more riches of the world to ourselves. Instead we need to begin to store up God's treasure! We can do this when we stop using the 'ME, MY, and I' words, and start using the 'WE, US, and OUR' words. We can do it as Christians by energising our families and our communities, working with local charities, and giving our time and our talents to spread God's love through our actions.

Father God,
teach us how to store up treasure in heaven,
to work for eternal things,
and not seek day-to-day trivia
that can clutter our lives.
Give us the courage to make
changes to the way we live,
and seek You above all things.
Amen.