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TheDiscipleMD

Many years ago  I found myself  teaching an early morning religious class for high schoolers at a local church building.   For two years I got up very early each school day to teach the class without receiving monetary payment. I was never late nor did I miss a class due to illness. Arriving at the same time everyday were men from my church who were playing basketball. They would occasionally walk by my classroom as I was preparing for the kids, stick their heads in and say hello. I would always tell them that as soon as the summer came and my teaching responsibilities were through,  I was going to be there on the court with them. I knew them well as I played with them on the church  basketball team.

When my class ended that first year I was excited to be able to play early morning basketball with them. I got up the first morning and arrived early to shoot around. I had a fun time. The next morning the alarm went off and I thought about the fun that awaited me at the church building.  But the warmth of the bed was too inviting so I turned off the alarm and slipped into peaceful dreams. The next day I set my alarm and when it went off, I hit the “snooze” button. I kept hitting it till I could see that it was too late to go for basketball. I slept in. The next day I did the same thing with the same results. Finally, the day came when I knew it was useless to set the alarm for early morning basketball because I wasn’t going to get up. I thought how strange it was that I had been able to get up every day for months to teach a class, but somehow I couldn’t muster up the strength to do it for basketball. There are lessons to be learned in almost every aspect of life.  The lesson I learned from that experience echoed the words of the Savior when he said:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21)

Sometimes we don’t even recognize where our “treasure” is until someone, or something brings it to our attention. I was happy to discover, that fulfilling a church responsibility was of more import to me than playing basketball. And here all the time I thought I loved playing basketball more than teaching that class.  I mean, given the choice, I would choose playing basketball over teaching that class of teenagers, or so I thought. What I found out, to my surprise, was that I really didn’t love teaching that class more than playing basketball, but I did love the Lord more than that sport. I’m not relating this story to brag, but rather to simply point out that what we devote our life to, is a measure of where our “treasure” is. If we take an inventory of how we are spending our time, what does it say about our “treasure”? Having such a self-evaluation might bring us great joy. We might discover that our “treasure” is in the right place. But if we discover it isn’t, maybe it’s time for a change.

May we ponder and pray regarding our lives to find out if our hearts are on “treasures” of an eternal nature. Quoting the Savior, “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matt. 6:20)