Over the weekend, there was a lot of chatter about the Kardashian divorce. Quite frankly, I'm surprised we care about that family. As far as I can figure, they became famous because she looks good naked in some sex video she made, not that I would know. I don't happen to find her that attractive actually. Yet, they have bazillions of dollars for the reality show about their lives and other crap. I happen to share the opinion with others I'm sure that the Kardashians are nothing more than a bunch of spoiled brats.
On the way to work this morning, I saw an interesting bumper sticker. Aside from the fact that it made me feel better about my car, it was rather interesting in its sentiments. It read simply, "Don't let my car fool you. My treasure is in heaven." As I drove behind this fellow, I considered what treasures people seek as evinced by how they spend their time.
Time is the only resource of which I am aware that is finite. Everyone has a maximum amount of time to spend as a mortal, determined partially by the length of their telomeres and partially by the choices they will yet make while alive. Yet, few of us invest our time, spending it willy-nilly rather in the pursuit of neither what we like nor what we ought. As someone once said, we spend money we do not have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like. Even the president thinks it's recovery when we buy iPADS despite the number of people who can't pay their bills or buy food. We attempt to please others, who have their own limited time with which to deal. Ironically enough, even if you manage somehow to accumulate all of something, it becomes worthless. Furthermore, it becomes a liability because then you have to defend it.
Nobody has to worry about defending their stance with their Maker. Our state of grace is not up to any of the other people we so desperately vie to impress. It is not for sale, trade, or exchange. We cannot fool our Maker. We don't even really know how He values things except from what He communicates to us that we should do and become. From those notes, He values very different things than we do.
During the Incarnation, Jesus talked about laying up treasures in heaven for protection. He also made it quite clear that our treasures indicate where our hearts truly lie. Not that people who care nothing at all for material goods care for God, but people who care about stuff certainly do invest their energies and their hearts into a god that does little more than collect dust. Just last night, we celebrated the pagan tradition where we clothe our children like fiends and miscreants, send them out to extort candy from strangers under veiled threats of violence, and then gather round to count our swag. Children no longer even have to do a trick to get their treat.
When I was young, my family transformed Halloween into a family night. My parents bought us each a bag of candy, a new family movie, and we retreated into a dark basement room to spend some time together. That is a memory and a tradition I will always treasure and one I hope to extend to my own posterity. You never see a hearse headed to the cemetary with bags of money or a U-haul full of property trailing behind. What you do see are family. In fifty years, very few people will remember who you were or what you did. What you're really leaving behind is your legacy in the form of your posterity. The rich men are the ones whose families love them.
2 comments:
I love these thoughts - -in the end, all that really matters is the family. The rest of what the world seems to think matters couldn't be less important. The sad part is that so few people understand that, I think.
As always, love it!
We also bowled, mini golfed, played games, etc. And we consider ourselves "rich"--at least, we hope our family loves us.
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