Merry Christmas Sisters!

Tis the season to be BUSY! Here I am running a business during a pandemic, raising and homeschooling two kids, managing a household, and trying to be super cutesy (decorations, cookies, cards…) for Christmas all while taking a moment to write this for you. Maybe too much? I can’t help myself! May I add that a salon is never busier than at Christmas time? EVERYONE wants to flip fabulous holiday hair!  I find myself gripping onto the reigns of each day striving to slow it down and soak up the goodness that Christmas brings. Mostly, I feel I’m living the second verse of Jingle Bells, “… misfortune seemed a lot… we got into a drifted bank and then we got upsot!”

This Christmas season, with all the challenges that engross us, and that a pandemic institute, I’m searching through what Jesus has taught me in times of Joy (celebrating Messiah, God with us!) and hardship. 

What will this holiday season look like with so much stripped away?

 

Heavenly Treasure > Earthly Treasure

“I lay my treasures in Heaven. Just look at my car.”

That was the proclamation attached to the rear end of my family’s rusted, busted, burgundy suburban. A rig that had carried my family, of 6, hundreds of thousands of miles. A sizable vehicle allowing space between each kiddo to help prevent the inevitable, “She’s touching me!” anarchy that ensues with kids on long road trips.  

Upon arrival into the family, this suburban was shiny, new, and full of promise! Many years, and miles later, it was hardly recognizable as that fine baller that barreled down the highway. 

Promises were achieved though! The promise of hundreds of camping trips, boat in tow water skiing adventures, all while playing our favorite tunes through the cassette deck. Icy cold air conditioning blasted front and back on blazing summer days (a royal treat for the far back), pulling sleds down snowy mountain roads in the winter months, hauling Christmas trees, holding our laughter, hollering matches, tears, and joy.

We learned to drive behind that wheel, ripped the side mirrors off on trees we drove too close to, and bent in both rear quarter panels from jack-knifing one trailer or another while learning to maneuver with something hitched to you. This vehicle held the youth and growth of my family, and in the end, was so beat and battered, that my father found it fitting to apply a sticker.

“I lay my treasures in Heaven. Just look at my car.”

An announcement for anyone close enough to read, that the battered burban was not where we held our worth and value. 

Our treasures were not of this Earth but held in a higher safer place. A heavenly place. 

Thank You Jesus for this recollection! This is lovely to consider with Christmas upon us. What are our treasures and where are we laying them? I recall Jesus talking about treasures. Where was that again? Hello Bible Gateway!  My clever biblical companion… keyword search: Treasure 

JESUS: 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.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. — Matthew 6:19

Ah, yes. Thank you Jesus for this encouraging look into true treasure storage. For where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.

What are you treasuring?

 

Storehouses Full of Rotting Treasures

For so long (30+yrs!) I treasured looking and appearing a certain way, that I might be pleasing and loved by those around me. Not even realizing how hard I leaned into my appearance, and that, as with all earthly things, this body is gonna get older, things are gonna shift, wrinkle and fall. Youth is fleeting and time stops for no one. My treasure was rusting, and busting as I balled down the road of life. I was riddled with insecurities, fear, and shame.

It has taken a deeper understanding of Jesus, and the value of His loving gift, for me to find value within myself instead of out of myself.

He came in and slapped a lovely sticker on my heart for all to see. “I lay my treasures in heaven. Not in my body.” I lay my treasures in Heaven, not the mirror, makeup, the number on the scale, size of my pants,  friends I have, my business, my marriage… For where my treasure is, there my heart is also. Where my treasure is, there my hope, peace, joy and love will be. Where my treasure is, there my measure will be also.

“Jesus, as I treasure You, I find peace within me and the measure of what this world tells me to be drops like the grave clothes from your resurrected body. As I treasure You, I find peace in my marriage, finances, and work. I’ve looked in the mirror and the scale for far too long without finding any lasting hope. Those places were never meant to store treasure. They rust, bust, and fade. Now, as I look to You and declare Your truth over myself, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9) The measure of whom I thought I was vanishes and a new revelation is lived out.”

For where my Jesus is, there my heart will be also.

Treasuring Jesus removes old measures that never brought me joy and were destined to rust and bust. And trust me, I had a storehouse FULL of dying treasures that I measured myself by. 

What have you been treasuring that doesn’t bring you joy?

Ask yourself this: How much longer am I willing to be held hostage by things that are destined to be eaten by moths and vermin, or stolen by thieves?

“ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” —2 Corinthians 2:14

 

The One Who Calls You His Treasure

In coming into agreement with Jesus’ invitation, you are free to be measured solely by LOVE. For with Jesus as your treasure, what can stand against you? 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” —Romans 8:38-39

I’m convinced too Paul! Killin it buddy.

As much as my family  LOVED that Suburban, Jesus put it well when He declared that things of this earth are not in it for the long haul. They will break down, rust, bust and shut down. Even if they don’t, you will.  

In storing up “earthly treasures”, (anything you hold higher than eternal freedom with Jesus) we are living with a false sense of security. Nothing of this world is unshakeable. It’s when we look inwardly to our hearts and outwardly to heaven that true safety is found in Jesus.

When we look inwardly to our hearts and outwardly to heaven that is when true safety is found in Jesus.

This Christmas can you store up treasure for yourself on this earth? Absolutely! You’re free to gather, store and treasure whatever you please. However, you are also invited to soak in this declaration from the One who loves you beyond measure, the One who calls YOU His TREASURE:

“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Ever since being captivated by my Dad’s bold proclamation through bumper sticker art, I’ve found a new bold proclamation of my soul, “I lay my treasures in Heaven and am measured by Jesus.”

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” –John 15:4

So… what does your sticker say?