what do you treasure?

Do you have old shirts? Like twenty-five year old shirts? We do. We tend to keep shirts around our house forever especially thin, holey t-shirts. I have one from my 8th grade Allen Middle School music concert and my husband, Bryce, has one from 1984 when he saw his first live concert - Crosby, Stills and Nash. We love beat up, soft old clothes.

This is our Flurie family photo from 1995. See that big guy in the middle with the yellow chamois shirt? That’s my father-in-law, Bud. He was a mountain of a man with a kind heart who was proud of his family and loved spending time in the woods and on the golf course.

Flurie Family

We still have that yellow chamois shirt he is wearing. In fact, we treasure it.

In the Bible, Matthew 6 gives us perspective on how we should view our possessions. We need to ask ourselves where we see value and why.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not 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

With this direction from Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, how can we treasure a material object like a shirt?

Here’s how. Our daughter now wears her grandfather’s yellow chamois shirt. She never met him. He passed away 3 years before she was born. The shirt is way too big for her and means nothing in itself, but we treasure the shirt for what it brings when we see her wear it. We remember Bud’s kindness. We remember how he lead his family. We remember how he loved his wife. And we remember the impact he had on our walk with God. So, yeah, we treasure that yellow chamois shirt. Our lives would be a little more empty without it.

Sometimes we need to take a little break and observe our own life and values. Have we purposefully chosen what to value? I’d encourage you to join me in taking some time this week to discover what you treasure. Is it leading your heart in the right direction?

Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,

Jody