"Stuff"

 ¹⁹Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

 ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

 ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

 Matthew 6:19-21

These verses have been floating through my mind this week.  We were very fortunate that Hurricane Irene fizzled out before it got to us.  We had a lot of rain, and the electricity was out for a few hours, but that was about it.  We had spent time on Saturday making sure everything was up off the floor in the basement, and thought we had done a pretty good job, but the huge amount of rain combined with the lack of electricity to run the sump pump resulted in about a foot of water down there.  It was mostly gone by Monday, and the floor is relatively dry, now, though the pump is still pumping water out of the pipes around our house four days later.  


When we went downstairs on Monday, we realized that some of the things which got damaged included old school papers, Mikes baseball cards, and photos.  After Mike and I filled up a garbage can and started a burning pile, I spent about eight hours drying out photos, and at times I really wondered what the point of it all was.  I almost gave up and threw them all out a few times, but I was kind of on autopilot by then and couldn't stop.  Besides, there were photos of cute little Rory (from about 2 months to 3 years old), and pictures of people who are no longer with us, like Mike's grandmother.


But all of this got me thinking.  There are so many things we store up.  Especially us - we seem to have an attic, a basement, and a garage full of stuff.  Many of them are "treasures" or memories, some are things we "might need someday."  But what use are they, really?


Another thing I spent quite a bit of time on this week was changing our internet security program.  The one we had was expiring, and I wanted something that was cheaper (i.e. free!), because I wasn't all that pleased with the first one, anyway.  So, I switched to one we had years ago and which got good reviews.  The problem was, I didn't think to uninstall the other one first.  This made the new one rather useless.  I ended up having to uninstall both, and then re-install the one I wanted.  Yes, rather time-consuming.  Then, I spent time looking into generators and back-up sump pumps.  We have a battery-operated back-up, but it is too weak to do much good. 


So, I'm wondering.  Is all the "stuff" we have worth the time it takes to deal with it?  I guess that has to be answered on a thing-by-thing basis, but it gives me a criteria to work with.  Of course, we're dealing with the "stuff" of four people, not just me, so the answer may be different for everyone.  The other thing I'm wondering is how much these earthly treasures are keeping me from storing up treasures in Heaven?  It seems that anything that uses time, money, attention, or space that should be devoted to God's plan is stealing from my heavenly treasure chest, and keeping my heart bound to the earth.  


To all those affected by Hurricane Irene, our hearts and prayers are with you!