A huge flock of blackbirds descended on our lawn and the corn fields surrounding our knoll this morning. I observed them as they worked their way across the lawn. One in particular amused me. It picked up a kernel of corn, hopped a couple of inches, dropped its treasure to gobble up something else and then picked up the kernel again. That kernel was simply too big for that blackbird to eat…amusing but also food for this writer’s thoughts. (No pun intended!)
How many times do we “pick something up” because we’re sure it’s a treasure? We just have to have it. But we soon discover it simply does not hold the promise we had for it. We may not even be able to use it – it’s the wrong size, impractical, the timing isn’t right, out of style or it was more than we could reasonably afford. We polish it, protect it and cherish it at first but over time it loses its luster for us. We have to come to terms with the reality that it wasn’t a treasure after all, perhaps even an albatross around our necks.
We may have sacrificed for that treasure, scrimped and saved or went into debt for it. We have to ask ourselves: was that treasure an idol? Was it in our thoughts day and night before and after we possessed it? Did it become our focus? And how did we feel when we realized it was a mistake? Was there shame or a desire for a new treasure to consume us?
Trust me, I’ve been guilty of the treasure hunt, capture and ownership compulsion. In the end, I was left feeling hollow, empty from the experience. I was reminded of the verse “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. I have to wonder how it made God feel. Some “thing” caught my eye and drew my focus from Him. He delights in me. I am apple of His eye yet I let some “thing” take my eyes off of Him. My focus was averted by something of no value for what can compare to His matchless love? Oh how He must grieve my diversions.
Time and time again I have gone to Him in confession of my wrongdoing. And time and time again He has welcomed me with open arms, forgiven my wanderings, and washed me white as snow. Oh the time I have wasted when I should have been seeking the kingdom of God and the treasures of heaven, not the treasures of the earth.
Back in the 70’s, when I was in junior high and high school, a house church met in my childhood home. Many of the praise songs we sang were right out of scripture, accompanied by guitar and tambourine. One of my favorites was from Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelu, hallelujah!”
The passage in Matthew 6 is a great reminder to me and all of us.
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:19-34 ESV
I’ve seen with my own eyes how my heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field. I can trust Him in all things.
I am imploring God to remind me the next time my eyes stray to earthly treasures. He has and will bless me with all I need. No more wasting time and energy (and money!) focusing on treasures that may only provide temporary satisfaction here on earth when I can be laying up treasures in heaven instead!
Thank you for the blackbirds this morning, Lord. They were just what I needed.
© lclamb 06Feb2012
