Mtr Mary Trainor

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

Dear friend,

My grandfather put his cash into Mason jars and buried them in numerous places around the yard. It was all about keeping his money safe.

Influenced by the Great Depression, Poppo knew firsthand what running out of cash looked and felt like. He wasn’t going to let that happen again. There would be no moth nor rust nor thieves to ruin his plan. No Wall Street bankers to steal his treasure.

***

Money is a complicated topic for many Christians. Aside from “prosperity Gospel” folks who perceive wealth as a measure of God’s favor, many receive Jesus’ words from Matthew today with trepidation.

We cannot serve God and wealth, Jesus says. We need God, we need money to navigate our lives. How do we not cross the line?

I guess the challenge is proper priority. I see it like dieting, a popular activity of many U.S. Americans. We need to achieve and maintain a healthful weight, so neither starvation nor wanton eating are in the cards. What to do?

Balance in all things. So trite and so true. 

God is my treasure, a certain amount of money is necessary. But God is my treasure. Since I cannot live a bifurcated life I need to make peace with this. Which for me means seeing money through the lens of God, not the other way around.

***

Oh, about my grandfather? He died without leaving family members a map of where the jars were buried. Not sure what that says about his treasure.

Mtr Mary