My Treasure

My Treasure

Do not lay up for yourselves
treasure on earth,
where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither rust nor moth destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
There your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

A few days before I left Japan, I met one of my best friends – Hisako San – for a simple, farewell dinner of scrumptious sandwiches at a popular restaurant. We chatted, laughed, reminisced and together looked forward to what lay ahead for both of us. Just before we got ready to leave, Hisako presented me with a gift and urged me to open it. I tore away the beautiful wrapping, and soon a tastefully-designed Japanese book lay in my hands. It was small and jacketed in cream, textured paper with a little dog gracing the cover. Over it was the book title in elegant Japanese script. Hisako explained that it was one of her favourite books and also quite popular in Japan. It’s called See You Anytime I Want. When she offered to translate it for me, I gave my assent, “Woof! Woof!” and we both had a good laugh. As she went through the book page by page, though, our playful teasing gradually turned to tearful smiles.

The book was about a little dog whose owner (a little girl) had passed away. As the little puppy comes to terms with the fact that he can’t play with her anymore, and that no matter how extensively he searches, he can’t find her, he slowly comes to realize that she is up among the stars, looking down on him and that one day they would be playmates again. Hisako found the most eloquent way to say, “Nneka, I’m going to miss you … but we’ll meet again.” It was so touching. It was only on completing the reading that she explained that the book is designed to help children come to terms with the loss of loved ones. The meaning in the context of my returning to Trinidad and our friendship, was artfully left unexplained … but our moist eyes and bitter-sweet smiles meant that the meaning was clear to each of us.

That special dinner is one that I will always treasure. It was a sweet celebration of friendship, and also a beautiful reminder of the sophisticated subtleties of Japanese culture which I grew to appreciate and admire. That little puppy could have pined his life away waiting for his little friend to return, but instead he found peace and contentment in the fact that she was in a better place – a safe place. In an abstract metaphorical sense, because his ‘treasure’ was in heaven, this knowledge gave him a warm sense of comfort and security.

Sometimes life comes along and takes things from us – friendships, loved ones, bank accounts, health, options, pride, … hope. Sometimes we may feel that life is simply not worth living. Job was one such individual, nose-diving from being the wealthiest man in Asia to the most pitiable character on the planet … until God restored what He allowed the enemy to take from him.

In his time of desperate suffering, Job had every reason and seemingly every justification to end it all. Yet, his personal philosophy pulled him back from the edge, as he gritted his teeth and determined to live on despite every provocation to the contrary. The only option he allowed himself was to keep trusting God, to see if he would not meet providence around the next unlikely corner.

The intensity of Job’s inner grappling was torturous. He said: … my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body. I loathe my life (Job 7:15-16). The swirl of sorrow in the upper portion of his mind did not, however, erode his bedrock faith. When his wife prodded him to curse God and die, He said: Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? He understood that God’s goodness could not be called into question, and that the complex God He served could not be boxed into simplistic human equations based on direct co-relations between good people and consistently-favourable circumstances.

Though Job had been one of the world’s wealthiest men, his truest treasures were not things of temporal worth. What he valued most highly was his integrity, which was ultimately defined by God’s opinion of His life choices. If we can take all the things we love and entrust them to God, we will find that we create an entirely different kind of trove – one created by ancient faith and priceless grace. For God takes our trust in Him and our consequent choices, and fills our heavenly treasure chest with good things that last forever – divine favour, golden-honey joy, liquid-gold grace.

When crisis comes along, we can dip into our heavenly cache and invest our spiritual resource in real-life issues to enjoy tangible benefits in the here-and-now. In our grief, God will pour in his balm, in our loss, God will pour in provision, in grey times, God will line the clouds with sunny encouragement. If everything is taken from us, we will know that we are rich in Christ and that God will create a way out emotionally, materially, circumstantially or any combination of the three.

For when we make God our treasure, we become His precious possession. When we come to be the apple of His eye, anything that touches us will make Him blink. He will respond and be there for us. His favour will keep us and make a way for us. This is what a wise lady said of David (described as a man after God's own heart) when he was running from king Saul: Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in His treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! - 1 Sam 25:29

Though I don’t have much by human standards, God is my reward … and He’s with me all the time. I remember once being in my living room, throwing a pity-party for myself, wondering if I would always be living (okay … dangling) on the financial and professional edge. I sensed God ask me, “If all you had was me, wouldn’t that be enough?” And I immediately perked up and straightened myself out and said, “Of course, God! You are my reward! Once I have you, I don’t need anything else at all!”

I don’t have to search for my Best Friend everywhere and yet not find him, like that little puppy. My contentment comes from the fact that wherever I go He will be, and there I will find joyously-dazzling richness of boundless worth. God Himself is my highest treasure for his character is gemmed with kindness, and diamond-crusted with wisdom. His very nature out-sparkles the most brilliant stone. He is the best-kept secret; the Jewel that crowns all of creation; the one who designs Karat qualities into my very being; the Sweetest Glow of Perfect Glory on the inside of me.