“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” Matthew 6:19-21.

As I sit here “clearing the clutter” momentous items that held value over ten or fifteen years ago-are either trashed or headed to the Good Will!  It is on such occasions that with a thankful heart I recall the word of God found in Matthew 6:19-21 that teaches us to “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

Our goals and ambitions change as we grow older, my parents would say, that we would learn to understand things better with just a few more risings and settings of the sun. Youthful dreams are more aligned with the success of an idealistic job, home, spouse, etc. but, true enough, as we grow older, we are more attuned to seek goals that are geared towards the simplistic things in life… having experienced that things do come and go with time. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:12.

Certainly it is a healthy aspiration to pursue successful goals; however, our emphasis should be on knowing where those goals lead, how do we live so that the things we acquire and do, reflect not who we are… but whose we are; will we ultimately leave footprints on the sands of time…that will help another and give God the glory.

The truth is . . . a hundred years from now it really won’t matter how much money was in our bank accounts, the type of house we lived in, honorary titles we held, or even the car that we drove…but what will matter is the difference that we have made in the lives of others. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” Titus 2:11-12.

My friends, the most important things in this life, are found in the graces that come from God alone– “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” It is Jesus Christ that lives in us to do His perfect will, and helps us run this Christian race in a way that He gets the glory, and some lost brother/sister will find hope and eternal life.

Excerpts from “A Psalm of Life”  admonishes us to make a difference in the lives of others for Chirst!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
                                                                                – excerpts from “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow