Where are your Treasures

Good Morning Little Flock,
I hope that you all are having a wonderful weekend and a very special
Sunday. Now before we start I would ask that you all welcome Jezabel9963,
and Tukutukuwaqa, Ruci (SKM) into our little flock. I pray this ministry
will be a blessing and that the things I send will lift your spirits and
give you comfort to your souls...
Anyone who has pets will really like this. You'll like it even if you don't.
A great lesson can be learned here. (smile)
Mary and her husband Jim had a dog, Lucky. Lucky was a real character.
Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn
their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help
himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably someone would forget and
something would come up missing. Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in
the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's favorite
toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very
particular that his toys stay in the box.
It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her
she was going to die of this disease...she was just sure it was fatal. She
scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders.
The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A
thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old
dog liked Jim he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die Lucky will be
abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave
him. The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death. The double
mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was
hospitalized for over two weeks.
Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully but the dog just drooped,
whining and miserable. But finally the day came for Mary to leave the
hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even
make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the
couch and left her to nap.
Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made
Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed. When Mary woke for a
second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head
and her body felt heavy and hot. Panic soon gave way to laughter though when
Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed in every
treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept the sorrowing dog had made trip
after trip to the basement and back bringing his beloved mistress his
favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love. Mary forgot about
dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further
together every night.
It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky? He still steals
treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest
treasure.
Matthew 6: 19, 21
[19] Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
[20] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
[21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I'm afraid that many of us have laid up treasures just as Lucky did in the
beginning of the story. They were in his box and you and I have our
treasures hid in our homes, our jobs, savings in the bank, our cars, boats,
and yes, even motorcycles when we should be more concerned in laying up our
treasures in heaven. We get so tied up in trying to keep up with the Jones
running up the credit cards or borrowing way over our heads for a monster of
a house when we really don't need one that size.
Earthly treasures which will one day belong to someone else. We get so
wrapped up in making a great living and whopping amount of money that we
neglect the One from which all water flows. We work and fret until our
bodies give out and only then do we realize where our true treasures lay and
even then some never do realize and leave this world trying to hold on to
the material things they gave their lives for.
Well folks, it's great to have nice things as long as we don't lose site of
the One who has provided those things. I'm afraid that many time it is the
"I" , I bought this, I did that, All of this belongs to me; when we should
be thanking God for His love and mercy as it is He who has provided you and
I with the health to earn a living. It is He who has given everything we
have or will have to us for us to enjoy. And when do we thank Him? Or do we
even take the time to thank Him? Do we read His word, pay our tithes, go to
church, help others who might be in need, or do we just snatch and grab and
clutch everything to our breast ever so tightly, making greed and lust our
ever companion.
Listen folks, when Lucky's master was gone he whined and cried and moped
around. But when Mary came home Lucky gave her every thing he had and piled
them up on her. Isn't this what we need to be doing? Maybe this pup can
teach us something today. God gives us things to use and have while we are
here on earth. How many times have you laid them at His feet and thanked Him
for the use of them. How many times have you drove a new shiny car down the
street and waved at the neighbors and never said thank you God for giving me
new car or maybe a new dress or some other special thing you had wanted? Not
so much as a thank you...
I must confess to you all right here. I've done that. I've gotten something
and in my pride showed it to folks and bragged about the deal I made or what
a bargain I got on buying it. And all the time it was God who provided and
showered me in His blessings and arranged for the special price to show His
love. Yes for years I was ungrateful or half heartedly thanking Him. But in
these last few years I've come to realize how fragile and frail we truly are
and that nothing is truly ours but everything is His and He just loans it to
us for a little while. And for that you and I should praise and thank Him.
To some He loans more than to others but regardless of how much He has given
to us we should be thankful for His graciousness and love.
There is something which you may not have caught in the story. After the
pup, Lucky laid and covered his master with his treasures, their
relationship grew even closer. Did you notice that they walked further and
further each day. And Lucky received even more treasures. In my personal
life I've noticed that the Lord and I walk further and further each day now
and He is still giving me more and more treasures to put into my box. But
every time He does I thank Him and praise Him for His love and try to take
good care of the things He gives me so that I can lay them at His feet in as
good a shape as He gave them to me.
I hope that today you can say that the Lord is walking further and further
with you each day. Let us each one take time today to give a special love
and thank you to Our Lord for all the bounty He has provided us. Let us
cover Him in our treasure as we lay them at His feet. And one of the
greatest treasures we can lay at the Saviour's feet is a lost soul. Where is
your treasure laid up today? Here on earth, or are you laying up you
treasures in heaven? I pray that your answer is, Heaven. Well glory!

THE LORD IS GOOD & HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER!!

Until we meet again;
May we each yield our lives to Jesus and tell all those
we meet what God has done in our lives and how He
has saved our soul from an eternity in Hell. For complete
surrender to Him brings complete victory. Well Glory!