This past weekend, I was in an emergency room with a loved one. Everything turned out fine, but as I stood there in a moment of crisis, a thought came to my mind:
There lies your treasure.
That got me thinking about all the things I had been worried about prior to that moment. Where was my heart? What was I thinking about?
Suddenly, I realized that I seemed to have forgotten one of the most powerful teachings attributed to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
I was grateful for that moment of clarity.
In a time of great stress, you tend to do what you can to protect yourself, protect your image, gather things up, hide them, protect them, and cherish them. It is the way a person might react if, suddenly, a cutpurse spilled the contents of their gold coin pouch. You would find yourself on your hands and knees, scouring the ground, looking for each and every coin.
There I was, sitting in the ER, and as the machine was beeping, I realized that this was me. Except the treasure was not coins, but rather those I love.
So what will I be when all is said and done? What will that dash represent between my birth year and death year on the tombstone?
I could, like the shrewd and miserable wretch in Dickens, sit in my cold, dark office counting my pennies and making sure that each and every one of them was accounted for. Or I could make sure that I stay focused, in heart and mind, on the true treasure.
So when we checked out of the ER, I decided that I was going to view things differently.
I can count up several failures in my life, most of which have left me a little poorer than before. Each failure has left me with a bank account that does not exactly flash success. But when all is said and done, I still have the family, friends, and relationships that I hold dear. And it is those that I really treasure.
Later, I was at a gas station and saw a weary man sitting by the trash can, huddled over and trying his best to tear open a small wrapper on a discarded piece of food. I thought to myself, This man has lost all his treasure. Poor soul.
I remembered the Bob Dylan song where he asks:
“How does it feel? To be on your own?”
I asked the man if he needed help, and I could only see the vacuum in his eyes. I slowly walked away, even more resolved than before.
I often look back at my life and see failure. Decisions I have made have left me with little or nothing to show for my effort. Some of those I have worked with have climbed to great success.
However, after my experience this weekend, I realize now that I have plenty of treasure. In fact, my coffers are overflowing. I have all that I need in life, and perhaps I understand a little better now.
When all is said and done, I have my family, my long-lasting friendships, and a dash that I can be proud of, knowing that it was never compromised.
