There’s a wonderful song by the Irish group IONA that goes, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.”
One of the definitions of the word “treasure”, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is “to value highly.” As I was letting my friend debrief over her iced latte, I asked her just who she was spending her energy, time and resources on and with. She seemed to be stressed and a bit depressed, and I felt we needed to get to the bottom of it.
“Think about it”, I said, “If you are spending precious moments and energy with people who ‘need’ you and do not invest back into you, I’d bet you are pretty tired at the end of the day or week.” I went on to share that if she found that she socialized mostly with people who were downers, she too would end up, well, “down”. If her time on the phone consisted mostly of those who see only the negative, she probably wasn’t feeling too bubbly and chipper when the call ended.
I hope you are making the transition here to evaluating the same situations in your own life. Who we spend time with, invest in, and adore, really matters. Take the Olympic athletes for instance. If they spent most of their time with people who eat junk food and don’t exercise, it will most likely limit their resources and their energy. I highly doubt that those processed–food friends would be the ones that drive them “closer to the gold.” And so it is with you and I. If our goal is to save money, and we find that our weekends are spent burning up the credit card out of mere peer pressure, we’re in for the shock of a lifetime down the road. You and I both know that.
So, if you and I want to head in a particular direction, we really need to sit down and take stock of the people in our lives with whom we invest the most time and resources.
With that, I am going to ask you to make a literal list. Write it out in front of you. And stare at it. Then make a a list of your passions, goals and dreams. Are the people in which you are investing the majority of your time and resources truly moving you farther down the path that you personally want, or know, that you should take? Just a little something to chew on this weekend, besides that great meal out or that grilled hamburger.
Selah!
Stephanie
Where Your Treasure is, There Your Heart will be Also. Matt. 6:21