PRACTICE: What/who are the 3 most important things in your life? Has this changed recently?
I shared with you a few weeks ago that I am reviewing my 2019 journal almost daily as a way of assessing my thoughts then versus now. In doing so I read about my attendance at the funeral service of a thirty-five-year-old father and husband. He was alive and well on Wednesday evening and funeralized on Sunday. I also wrote, “Life is short and fleeting -don’t waste life on the unimportant – but do I always know what is important?” If you have a definitive answer, bless your heart and please share your process of determination with the rest of us.
I am certain had I been able to talk with the father, mother/wife and children on that Wednesday prior to the man’s death and a few weeks after his passing, their answers would have been completely different.
2020 has provided many opportunities for discovering the important versus unimportant…for discovery of hidden treasures. You make your own list. Here is my slightly silly short list. Toilet paper- I didn’t understand at the end of February why toilet paper became so valuable. However, I will say a lot more of it is used when one is at home all day every day. I took for granted that I would always be able to go the store and purchase it. Dried beans and rice – a staple for most of the world but largely relegated to a place of unimportance here in the US, not because we don’t consume tons of it but because there is always plenty on the grocery shelves. Disposable gloves – if the lack of them to purchase was any indication then they were like gold.
If you had asked any of us prior to the first quarter of 2020, if any of these items occupied a place of importance in our thought life, the answer would most likely have been “NO.” Personally, I will never take toilet paper, rice, beans and disposable gloves for granted again. They were not missed until they were not available- I was blinded to their value by their availability…a hidden treasure in plain eyesight.
Here is the transferable lesson for me. Don’t take people, experiences, health and safety for granted or treat them as unimportant. No one knows what tomorrow will bring. I now have a clearer understanding that there is value in every experience and a hidden treasure in every person. It is up to me find it.
Proverbs 3:13-15
Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.
PONDER THIS THOUGHT – Treasure hunting in relationships and experiences is always rewarded.
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