Where is Your Treasure?

I am using this wonderful week off to do some much needed spring cleaning.  The Hubbs and I are going through the patio closet and sorting stuff by "keep", "donate", "sale", and "garbage".  We sorted through 6 boxes today.  One full box became trash.  A large garbage bag became donate.  Half a box is refilled with what we are keeping.  A shoe box of stuff is what we are selling.  And we just got started.

It is amazing to look at the stuff we have collected over the years.  Some of the things I looked at today I have had since I was in grade school.  I also saw some pictures that took me back a few years.  I saw pictures of my dad, mother, brother, and myself...together.  I wasn't even a year old at the time.  It was really hard looking at that picture.  Even now, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.  It is one of the only pictures of us as a family.  Also found the picture of the first time I met my mother.  I was about to turn 22.  Long story.  I will delve into that another day.

I found Little Bit's first pair of shoes.  So tiny.  The Hubbs asked if I wanted to donate them.  I think I burned him with the evil eye.  Guys are so not sentimental.  Haha.

Going through all these things has done more than just send me on journey to the past.  It has also cleared a path to the future.  How does that work, you ask?  Easy.  "Do not lay up treasures for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasure in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Matthew 6:19-21

I do not want my treasures to be stored in the patio closet.  Or in the house.  I want my treasure to be stored in Heaven.  I do not want, nor do I need expensive things.  I don't want to worry about someone wanting to steal it.  I do not want to worry about the weather changing the appearance of it.  I don't want to hold on to everything just because it has sentimental value.  "Oh, no, don't throw away that piece of string.  It was the first piece of string that I saw the day it rained and I saw a puppy running and it found shelter and a rainbow came out and because of all that, I met you five years later."  If I kept every memento of my past, there would be no room for my future.  I need to let go of things that I have been holding on to for years so that there is room in my heart for things that are of Heaven.

So what are you holding on to that is keeping your treasure from being in Heaven?  What keeps your heart in the past instead of longing for your future home?  What can you not let go of that prevents you from holding onto Christ?  You need a free hand.  You have to let something loose.

I am cleaning out more than just the closet.  I am cleaning out my heart.  I am letting go of things that I have held onto for years.  I want my treasure to be in Heaven.  I need to make ready my heart so it is possible.  It is a slow process.  Doesn't happen over night.  But it can only happen By God's Amazing Grace.