The $600 I don't miss.

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I'm sure I have heard this portion of scripture a hundred times before, but I read it in an all together new way about two months ago. It has been on my mind these past weeks and little did I know that God brought me to this passage for purpose.

A few weeks back I left my laptop on a plane. This did not occur to me until I was 2 hours away from the airport and the plane was already on it's way to Honolulu. It was a sudden and gut wrenching realization. I had stupidly left my practically new, $400 laptop underneath my seat for goodness sake! I gasped and exclaimed what I had done to everyone in the car, and began to bemoan my plight and my idiocy. But, then I stopped short and realized that I was only acting  upset because I expected myself to feel upset. But, really, I was okay. I was more than okay. I was completely at peace. My first thought was how thankful I was to have Matthew 6:21 committed to memory. And, how thankful I was that in God's faithfulness my treasure and my heart were not bound up in something so momentary as a laptop. And, my second thought was that it really is just that....momentary, fleeting, not lasting.

If my heart is placed in a treasure with an expiration date then what will become of my heart?

I remember my old pastor's wife saying, "It's all gonna burn" quite often. It is all gonna burn eventually, or rather, it's gonna burn or get spilled on or get dropped or go on a vacation to Hawaii without you.

I've never wanted for anything, but for some reason I am a worrier. I worry about money, about job security, about my family being provided for. I check my bank account and credit card balance constantly and my desk at work is littered with post it notes of budgets and figures and trying to make my money stretch. God has always, always, always provided, yet I am still fearful. This doesn't sit well with me. This is why the verse at the top of this post has burned in my spirit for many weeks now. I want my treasure to be in something lasting, I want my heart to be found in something forever.

And, of course, this is the same chapter that has those beautiful verses on worry. He tells me not to be fearful of what tomorrow brings. He tells me to look at how he cares for the birds and the flowers...."Are you not much more valuable than they?"

It's taken years for these truths to sink in and take root in my soul. But, as I drove through Minnesota prairie I realized with overflowing joy that maybe I finally get it. And, so I was glad that I had left my laptop underneath 31C. I was glad and thankful that I had proof that my treasure lay in something deeper than an electronic gadget.

There were a couple moments throughout the following week where I did begin to feel stress and anxiety over how I was supposed to pay for a new laptop. But, it was fleeting and peace ultimately won.

I suppose I should mention that I did at one point throw my phone across the room after spending an hour being transferred to India and hung up on and put on hold multiple times to ultimately an obnoxious woman who told me off and made me half-cry. But, that wasn't because of my laptop. It was because I can't handle when people are rude to me. I will not have it!

And, then I came home a week later and found a ticket for $158 sitting on my table. I had run a red light. Do the math. That's a lot of money to lose in under ten days. And, I almost lost my peace. I began to worry again. I scribbled dollar amounts and figures on my notepad at work. I checked my credit card account multiple times in one day.

But, then my flighty and worrisome heart found it's footing again in those simple words.

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

 I mustn't forget these words. I must keep them close and remember them always.

God is good and I sent the check in for $158 and I drove to Stuart and bought a laptop for an amazing price. And, I told people the story and laughed about it. So, really, I don't miss the $600 I lost. What I learned from this experience is worth far more than that.

 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin DO NOT destroy, and where thieves DO NOT break in and steal."