One man’s treasure is another man’s junk
No Memorial Day post would be complete without a big fat, shout out to all of our armed service men and women who routinely put themselves in harm’s way for us so that we can continue to murmur and complain about the country that they are defending. Much of my family has served in the various branches with exception of only the Air Force, I believe. So to the member of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and all the reservists, thank you very much. You are remembered more than just one day a year.
This Memorial Day weekend however, I am remembering someone else; someone I really hardly know. His name is Bill. Bill is an old man who has recently been moved from his home just south of Gladstone, MO to a an assisted facility as he is about 90 years old and not getting around so good these days. It is a fate that we will all have to manage though at some point. The reason that Bill is on my mind is that some dear members of our church are helping clean Bill’s house out of all it’s contents and preparing it all for sale, including the house. While Bill acknowledges the need for help, he is right in feeling that the whole process is terribly invasive. He trusts the couple that is leading the clean out, but the fact is that someone else is making decisions about his belongings in terms of what needs to be kept or sold. Family records and pictures or other items that are obviously from the family are being sent to other relatives, but Bill has no children and his wife passed away several years ago so in this instance, the task falls to a third party.
I hate to see some of these things just set out in a $1 bin at a garage sale, especially the items that should be of some value. I offered to help the couple doing the cleaning list some of these items on Ebay and or craigslist.com and was told that a few of these items should be worth substantial amount of money that can be sold to help pay the bills from the assisted living facility. Upon taking a few of the items, I was surprised to learn that in terms fetching a good price, this stuff isn’t really worth much on the open market. I don’t know if it’s just the down economy or what, but there is an old 10K Gold filled Elgin watch (ca. 1950’s) that one in better shape than the one I have to sell only garnered $24. An old, heavy, don’t-make-‘em-like-they-used-to industrial microscope Bill was a very successful chemist) only was catching prices of around $60 and the list continues in a similar fashion with rare exception (Okay, the old Kodak Stereo Panoramic Camera does look somewhat promising).
Here’s the thing that has really kept me grounded this past weekend, particularly considering that we as Americans live in such a hyper-consumerist society: we spend most of our time trying to acquire stuff like LCD TV’s and nice cars to park in front of our big houses and in the end, someone else is going to make the decisions about what happens to all of that glorious stuff, assuming our most recently acquired stuff makes it that long. Even if unlike Bill, it’s family making the decisions for you, the decision are still not being made by us, the original owner. It’s a very sobering thought and has made me most reflective over the past few days. More than anything, it has made me more sure about the job that I am doing now of staying home with my kids as being much more important than bringing in money at the present time. Really if we were to do that, is would just be to acquire more stuff while we paid someone else to raise our kids. Crystal and I feel so thankful that by God’s blessing, we are able to make this decision to have me at home instead of having life dictate our decision to us out of survivalist necessity. I grew up under that latter option and while I don’t regret my childhood, I am happy to pass up reliving that part of it to the next generation. Anyway, the quote that keeps entering my head is one from Jim Eliot, a martyred missionary to Ecuador that wrote in an October 28, 1949 journal entry:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
While that quote itself did not come from the Bible and therefore cannot be treated as such, as the pic of the journal entry shows, the context is clearly rooted in Scripture. Regarding hoarding ”stuff”, Jesus himself said in Matthew 6:19-21
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
The Apostle Paul adds in 1 Timothy 6:7 “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
I do know that Bill knows the Lord, but I find seeing these passages lived out reinforcing of the truths that they contain. Investing your life into others is the only way I know of to have a tangible impact after we are gone. It just make me want “stuff” even less, even thought I do find a lot of it pretty cool at times.
Popularity: 31% [?]
Tags: Bill, Holiday, Jim Eliot, Memorial Day
