Storing up for a storm like treasure in heaven.

Have you been to a supermarket before a storm (hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, freezing rain storms etc)? What you see are large crowds of people preparing at the last minute. And for some it may be they only heard at the last minute and so have to run to make sure there are enough provisions in store for a few days at least. The queues at the supermarket take longer to pass through to pay than it took to collect the items in the basket.

We can be like this at any number of points in our lives. We all too often live as if there is no worry for tomorrow which will take care of itself and there will always be a tomorrow. But we should never take tomorrow for granted. There are no guarantees for tomorrow much less for today. And the same for all the accumulated things in our lives.

So what should we do? Always be living in the moment. But also always in the presence of God. Since we never know the day or the hour when we will be called upon to give an accounting for our lives we should live as if it were this afternoon.

How do we live this? It means doing what we are called on to do in our lives and families making each moment and action holy. It means loving others and caring for them as we would want to be cared for. It means storing treasure in heaven.

Think of all those plans we make day to day. All the people we meet either in person or in social media. How did we come to make those plans? How did we meet those people. Did everything go according to plan? Was someone rude to us? Did we get slandered in social media? How did we react? It is not only our actions but our reactions that decide if we remain in God’s presence. “Persevering in love and trust toward the Triune God even when hurt comes from an unexpected quarter and there is no way out: there is true joy.” (Weavings Blog Post)

Jesus said to be holy as your Father in heaven is holy (Mt 5,48). Since we are to store treasures there (Mt 6,19) should then this two-fold call be our priority? It is worth trying. And are not the people around us worth far more than the objects we collect and hold dear? (“…hold fast what is good” says St Paul to the Thessalonians) and are not those whom we love and those who are strangers not the better good? This week why not give ourselves away to help those around us, even the ones we don’t like or even know and thereby store treasure in Heaven.

“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness”
(George Sand)