Friday July 7 2017  WHAT MONEY CANNOT BUY

 

HIS PLAN IS FAR BETTER THAN MINE

Kathleen Martens

July 7, 2017

www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

From seven decades of life.

Piles; and piles of piles!

If stacked to the sky

Surely count as miles.

 

But I’m feeling satisfaction

As my car is filled with stuff

To drop off at St. Vinney’s

Though separation was quite tough!

 

But then again on the other hand

It feels good to just purge.

It seems the more I shed

The greater is my urge!

 

I’m just so happy to shout it out

That my studio is no more!

But now a lovely library,

A place I’ll never be bored.

 

Rows and rows of beloved books

Just awaiting my gentle caress.

It is a two way love affair

I truly must confess.

 

And now if I can focus outward

Other rooms may someday be

Actually used for their calling,

And from piles, they’ll be free.

 

My hope is that I will live

Long enough these plans to fend,

But I may leave some piles behind

For family as well as friends.

 

But all is well that ends well,

All I need to do is live ‘til I die

And hope I accomplish God’s perfect will,

Because His plan is far better than mine!

 

What an awesome event!  Dave and I worked diligently this morning on the final touches of my new library.  I say “my” because Dave takes no claim to it whatsoever.  I feel like Goldilocks, I have even found the chair “THAT IS JUST RIGHT”!  Dave’s library is confined in his “man cave”.  And he doesn’t allow me to put even one thing on his shelves!!!

Tomorrow an interior decorator friend is coming over to tweak the final touches of the new library.  My friend Carolyn will add the soft touches.  She will also help me choose which artwork to display, how big, and where it will be positioned.  Dave wants me to create a gallery of my travels but he has given me an explicit request to have some of the prints be something other than flowers and gardens.  So, in addition to flowers I will display my favorite ocean views, mountains, waterfalls, and architecture.  I might even intersperse a collection of family photos.  My only concern is that I do not have enough wall space to include everything I hope to hang.  Carolyn’s favorite saying is “less is more”.  Remember, I tend to like the “more” side of life. 

It has been a long and rewarding journey taking my studio apart, getting everything patched and painted, and then collecting things from around the house to create our “LEFTOVER ROOM”.  That is the name we have dubbed it.  Almost everything now in the “leftover room” was garnered from other places in the house such as excess furniture, photography props from my studio days, and boxed up keepsakes, as well as the plethora of books from my previous library.  We purchased three matching shelves from Craig’s List and one shelf unit and two chairs from Attic Angels’ fundraiser.  Most items are keepsakes of things old and familiar.  Included is an antique secretary that we purchased 44 years ago right after we married.  It was old then, and now it is even older!  We are using a white love seat purchased 38 years ago when our son was born.  I have a table I bought many years ago that had to live in our laundry room until now.  I’ve had several people offer to take it off my hands but I have always hung on to it, knowing that someday….  And that someday is now.  We are also using our powder blue wing-back chair that is 38 years old.  It is still in good condition, just as is the love seat.  Furniture was once crafted to last; not anymore. 

I have books that are older than I am; copies of well loved titles that my grandmother, mother and aunts held and read.  We have keepsakes from throughout mine and David’s lives, as well as those belonging to our children.  Our children are now minimalists.  Someday all these things we enjoy will be dispersed, gone with the wind so to speak.  And it won’t matter.  Things are things.  We are truly rich only when we realize that what is most important and valuable in this life on earth is that which money cannot buy; not how much we can buy.  And the riches I have are not on this earth.  My riches are knowing God and knowing that our children also have a personal relationship with God.  There is nothing this world can offer or that I can purchase that is worth more than that!

We are instructed in the Scriptures that we are not to store up treasures on earth.

Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Do not store up for your selves’ treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for your selves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

Thank You Father for Your gift of salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ.

Thank You God for all that You provide for us as we walk on this earth.

Thank You God that You are our treasure.

Thank You God for giving Your Living Word as our instruction book as we travel through this world that is not our home.

 

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS YOU