“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20
Today, my first world issues collided with third world issues and rocked my soul.
Monday morning, my usual routine is to go to the local Aldi for my week’s grocery run. I was a little tired from a sleepless night and more than a little grouchy, as I headed for a week’s worth of staples. I took my little rascals, hoping they could last the 30-minutes it would take in the store – bribing them with applesauce pouches. I saw a friend from church, exchanged pleasantries and bemoaned the reality of taking our kiddos shopping with us. After checking out, I loaded bags full of groceries, wondering how I would get them all put away before naptime with little toddlers being overly helpful. All the while having my grumpy attitude and struggling with contentment in my very first world dilemmas.
This afternoon, while mowing the yard, I tuned into a podcast from Hacking World Hunger. This particular episode featured stories of how women farmers were learning to store their food in air-tight “tupperware” containers – keeping their crops safe from rats and flies (Episode 20). I continued listening to the next podcast and it featured other stories of refugees fleeing Sudan for Uganda. These refugees would travel for days without food and finally arrive to the camp depleted of nourishment and energy. One woman struggled to feed her twin babies because her milk had dried up from malnourishment (Episode 19). These are very real third world issues.
The thoughts of my morning complaints in the grocery store and my weariness of sleepless nights seemed so trivial. My contentment had collapsed. My perspective was train-wrecked by my self-absorbed life. It was there between first and third world issues that I saw my own hunger and that of the world’s. I felt trapped in my own comfortable life and my own spiritual and emotional hunger. There is a danger in not safeguarding God’s word in my heart and allowing the ‘moths and rust’ of this world to come in and steal my joy. I need to seal these treasures from Heaven in my soul – like those air-tight tupperware containers sealing the women’s crops. It is the only treasure that cannot be destroyed or perish.
Store Up
Treasures. Imperishable. Nourishing. Eternal.
What am I trying to store up for myself and my family? Is it nourishing and providing contentment?