“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

For the last few weeks I have been driving past, what many might consider, a goldmine! It started out small, but over the days, all kinds of stuff was added to the pile! As the pile size increased, so did the interest of all the neighbors. And for more reasons than 1.

Some interesting stuff ended up at the curb! I MISSED a couple scooters, a vacuum cleaner and a bread maker when I thought, “I’ll have a closer look at them next time!” Next time, they were gone! Which is good! I don’t need any of those things. I WASN’T going to grab the ‘almost full’ case of water! When rugs, chairs and other furniture started coming out at the hands of the landlord, it REALLY got trashy.

Soon, the talk of the neighbors wasn’t of curiosity as much as “when’s someone going to clean that mess up?” Though no one personally really knew the tenant, several neighbors gathered around mailboxes to voice their opinion of what kind of person the evictee was! The opinions weren’t good…for apparently valid reasons.

WE were evicted once! Though it wasn’t REALLY our fault. The landlady wanted to rent the apartment to her best friend instead. The change FORCED us to ‘MOVE ON’ with our lives to another state… which turned out to be an upward move! Likewise, I’ve rented to people over the years who I’ve had to evict! I now have at least 7 garbage cans, 8 hammers, a dozen screwdrivers and various kitchen tools. I also have, in storage, a 100 gallon fish tank (if you are interested)!

I’ve thought about it! If someone moves and doesn’t take something with them, did they really need, or treasure it, in the first place? As my kids have recently reminded me, MY junk is NOT going to be clutter that they will deal with. “You can set the dumpster right here!” will be their call! Thus… the former neighbor, I did not know, seems to be teaching me some lessons.  Like:

Life is too short and valuable to hold onto stuff that doesn’t matter! 

What I think is important, often isn’t. 

How big my junk pile is will have a lot to do with the opinion others have of me. 

Some folks will take my garbage more seriously than I do. 

But I think the biggest critic of my pile will probably be my landlord!  Jesus said that my heart will be where my treasure sets. If I let too much worldly ‘stuff’ settle around, it will distract me from the REAL treasure of Life…HIM! Is the Lord of my mansion asking ME to consider some of the stuff I’ve been piling up in my heart? Because I can’t figure out why my wife is smiling!!!!

Got Junk?  What’s in YOUR pile?