Treasures

My six year old son, Isaiah, loves to collect random things. Not just any random things either, but the things that are only seen as valuable in the eyes of little boys. Things like: peanut shells, strings, old pens, beads, screws, washers, shotgun shells, bubble gum wrappers, bottle tops, broken rubber bands and shower curtain hangers, just to name a few. I am not even going to make mention of the chunks of metal, plastic and pokey things that have been brought home, because I am not sure what they were in their original form, and therefore, are not worth my time.

He finds these random things while playing outside, puts them in his pockets, and calls them treasures.

I find them at the bottom of my washing machine, get slightly irritated, and call them junk.

Case in point:



As I was transferring clothes into our dryer the other day, I kept hearing the various tinks, clinks and clangs, as this random stuff, dislodged by the shifting clothes, fell to the bottom of the wash basin. With a half sigh, half smile, I started fishing out all the treasures/junk - depending on how you look at it - and placed it on top of the dryer.

As I was folding clothes a few minutes later, I couldn't help but wonder if that s-shaped thingamajig that I found at the bottom of my washing machine, was the source for the tiny little holes I found in one of my shirts.

And then I thought that the following verse would be very appropriate for this situation:

Matthew 6:19-20
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 moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

But I think I am going to change a few words to this verse and have Isaiah read it over and over, until it has become so ingrained that he thinks twice before sticking things in his pockets.

Matthew 6:19-20
Do not store up for yourselves treasures/junk - depending on how you look at it - on earth, where s-shaped thingamajigs break apart and tear up. But store up for yourselves treasures/junk - depending on how you look at it - in heaven, where s-shaped thingamajigs do not break apart and tear up.

Amen. And Amen.