Wednesday, June 21, 2017

                My mother was an itsy-bitsy woman living in an itsy-bitsy room.  But when we cleaned out her room last week, it was amazing how much stuff she had packed into such close, living quarters. We filled several bags with just her clothes. It took a large box to carry all her photos of grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I found her stash of chocolates, cookies, crackers, and other goodies. Everywhere I turned there was another knick-knack to pack away.  I found enough hearing-aid batteries to open my own store. I found her contraband, nasal spray deep in a bottom drawer.  We were ruthless about what we threw away; but, even so, our living room is still half-full of her stuff. And we gave away what little furniture she had in her room.

                For example, we found report cards for myself and my siblings from our elementary days. Now there is a reminder of ancient history that I didn’t need!  She had the deeds from the farm that my parents owned over 60 some years ago.

                Yet, this is the woman who threw out my now-valuable, baseball cards and my brother’s also-valuable, old, comic books. Go figure!

                I think that all the stuff we keep defines us, and it tells a story about who and what matters. These curios, mementos, old photos, memorabilia and the like connect us to the past, often helping us to recall the “good ol’ days”, even if they weren’t always. Whereas these bits and pieces have no outward value, they are priceless to the one who hangs on to them. These shards of our past awaken nostalgia, memories, and are emotional gold.

                One of my favourite TV shows is American Pickers.  Two antique dealers crisscross America and go through junk yards, collectors’ homes and hoarders junk piles, looking for treasures. A lot of the stuff they go through is heaped up carelessly in barns and sheds, some of it in poor condition, broken, covered up by dirt and dust and other junk, seemingly forgotten and long neglected.  Yet, when the guys offer to buy something, it is amazing how often the owner refuses to sell. Suddenly, it becomes valuable and important. In one show, recently, the old, junk-yard man told the guys to put it back exactly where they had found it, which had been under a pile of other rusty junk and debris.

                "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19 – 21)

                Now, I don’t think that Jesus is too worried about old photos, keepsakes and a box full or two of old mementos. But I do think he is reminding us that life has more value than any thing we might try to hoard and store up in terms of material things and wealth. We really can’t take it with us. We can enjoy it, but a good life is not measured by our wealth, or what we own, or how many cars we have, or how big our house is or how important our job is.

                I will never forget the homeless man who had just eaten a big Christmas dinner at The Mission in Ottawa. He had also received a small gift of men’s toiletries. At the end of it all, he got up with a big smile on his face and told us all what a lucky man he was that day. He had a roof over his head and a warm bed at The Mission, a full stomach, sharing a Christmas meal with friends, and a Christmas gift in hand. He ended up by saying that he wished everybody there could feel as blessed as he was feeling.

                “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Dale