Where Is Your Treasure?

          A very wise pastor once said, “Your checkbook register reveals a great deal about what you treasure.  I was thinking about this statement the other day as I looked over my account online. As I thought about his words, I browsed through the past few weeks of purchases. “What would people think if they saw my register?” I wondered. My first cynical little thought was that if they saw the balance they would think payday must be just around the corner! Then I decided to move past the bottom line and just be grateful it was black and not red.  My eyes scanned the purchases we’ve made with a swipe of our card. “I guess my treasure is at Walmart”, I chuckled to myself.

          I began to group our spending into categories. Our biggest expense is a mortgage. Our second biggest expense is health insurance with groceries being a very close third. On and on, I made a mental list of where the money goes. I came to the realization that, like most families, we anticipate our earnings and do our best to anticipate our expenses.

          Were there areas to tweak and improve upon? Absolutely! Taking a good, long look at your finances from time to time is a very wise idea.  As I continued to think about the concept of examining our “treasures”, I turned to Matthew 6:21.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

          What do I truly treasure in life? Just as a checkbook register reveals truth about your finances; wouldn’t a pie chart of how I spend my time reveal volumes about me? It’s been said that we need to make certain that both our time and money are well spent. What would a pie chart of my daily allotment of twenty-four hours look like? What if I made a flow chart instead? Where do my days begin and end? This got me thinking and praying. I began to earnestly seek God and HE led me to make some changes.

          Over the next several months, my pie chart underwent some changes. My flow chart began to flow in a different direction.  My days began and ended differently. Some pieces of pie grew bigger and forced others to be trimmed. After all, you only have so much “pie” to go around.

          The first area HE began to work in was the way I began the “flow” of my day.  Instead of dragging myself out of bed and stumbling blindly into the day, HE began to wake me a little earlier. In those quiet moments, I am able to begin my day with prayer and thanksgiving. I honestly find that even on days I am the weariest, by the time I have spent some time with HIM, I find the strength to meet the day.

          Another change HE called me to was a regular time in scripture. In all honesty, initially it was difficult. It wasn’t my habit to get up and get in the Word. Thankfully HE is patient and loving. Some mornings I had to humble myself and ask for the desire to open my Bible.  There were days I struggled to spend fifteen minutes reading. Always the writer, I began to keep a journal alongside my Bible. As I read verses I journaled questions, I grabbed a dictionary and dissected the verses word for word.  Somewhere along the way, I began to wake with the deep desire to get up and get to my Bible.  Instead of a chore, it began to feel more like running to the mailbox to find a love letter waiting for me each day. By changing the first box on the flowchart of my day, everything began to change. My piece of pie labeled “time with HIM” grew. As that piece of pie grew, I began to experience growth. Have I arrived? Far from it! I’m a work in progress. I continue to be an extreme life makeover. Some rooms are looking better while others are under demolition. This whole pie chart/flow chart chain reaction experience is, and continues to be, an adventure.  In future blogs I will share more pieces of the pie with you. 

          Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

          I am a work in progress, my sanctification is a work in progress and my Creator will never grow weary.

                                           Be Blessed!

                                         Leslie