February 2005 by E. Louise Williams
(Click here for downloadable artwork)

True Treasure
Matthew 6:19–21

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Matthew 6:21

“You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” Those centuries-old words of St. Augustine still ring true for us today. We can sometimes feel that restlessness in our own beings. We can see it in family and friends close to us. We might sense it among the people in our congregation and in the places where we live and work. We can see the signs of that human restlessness in the whole culture.

It is as if God created each human being with an empty space in the heart that can only be filled by God. We may try to fill that space with something else—possessions or people, drugs or alcohol, food or television, hobbies or work (even work at church). But none of those “treasures” can still our restless hearts.

Perhaps, by God’s grace, you have at some time, even if for just a little while, experienced that rest in God which is our heart’s true desire. There, at rest in God, we have a little taste of the wholeness and peace that God desires for us all. There we find this amazing truth—that where God’s treasure is, there is God’s heart also. God treasures us! God’s heart is in us!

This month we begin Lent. Lent is an invitation to rediscover the desire of God’s heart. Lent provides opportunities to rid ourselves of some of the “treasures” that keep us restless. Lent invites us to uncover again God’s treasure and to discover God’s heart beating in us.

And if we find God’s heart beating in us, we may find a new kind of restlessness—another longing, with God, for everyone, for the whole creation to know wholeness and peace.

For reflection and discussion: What are some of the “treasures” that get in the way of my heart’s true desire? What can I do to rediscover the desire of God’s heart?

Prayer: Gracious God, may we treasure what you treasure and long for what you desire. Amen.