“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”
-Ecclesiastes 5:10

We put a lot of trust in things like money, gold, wealth, stocks, bonds, property, and inheritance.

Napoleon III decorated his table in the nineteenth century with the finest accoutrements for his special guests. They all ate with gold flatware. Napoleon himself ate with an even finer set of flatware made of platinum. But the finest guests, only the most special, very, very honored guests got the most valuable flatware made of aluminum. That’s a true story.

The finest piece of cutlery that Napoleon had was made of aluminum, now considered the most common metal on the planet. However, before the process of electrolysis was perfected, it was nearly impossible to pull aluminum from ore; you could mine hardly anything but flakes. So, over time, Napoleon gathered enough of this metal to finally be able to have aluminum utensils – forks, knives, and spoons – crafted to honor his guests. We all laugh now because most of us, when we think of aluminum, we think of an empty soda can.

Jesus teaches us something about treasure, that there’s nothing physical in this world that can really retain its value. Only what you give, only what you do for others can you take with you from this world. You came into this world naked; you leave this world naked.

Prayer: Dear Lord, my treasure is in you. I know that all that you bless me with in this life is temporary, to be used to care for the necessities of life, and to be shared with others. Amen.

Reflection: How do you balance your treasure – between life on earth and eternity?