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You Can't Take It With You
I heard the crash come from the other room. My husband and I ran to the scene to see our older children setting the bookcase back up and pulling our toddler away from the wreckage. She was fine. Thank the Lord the arm of the couch caught the bookcase and none of the falling things did her any harm. All my favorite tea things weren't so lucky, however. I had wanted to secure that bookcase, but no one had paid the least bit of attention to it...until now. And I had wanted a safe place to put my collection of teacups but I didn't have money for a cabinet and I didn't want them shut away in a closet because I enjoy using them, or rather enjoyed.
All of us were bent over the mess carefully picking through it. I could see at a glance that not one cup and saucer had survived and that two of my teapots were damaged. My eyes started to well up. After all, I had been collecting them and receiving them as gifts for some time and I knew they were not replaceable (at least not with my budget). When my husband started saying out loud what I had already surmised, I had to leave the room. Yes, I wanted to cry over those teacups!
But I had barely stepped into the other room to get started on my cry of self-pity when a faithful Friend met me there. He's met me countless times before and brought perspective to life's ups and downs. He reminded me, "They are just things, Heather. In the end you can't take them with you."
[Sigh.] There was truth and I knew it. In fact, the phrase, "You can't take it with you" has become my catch phrase for all the things I think I'd like to have, but can't afford. It's just that here, I wasn't longing for something unattainable; I was losing something I already had. God graciously pointed out that the truth still applies. It's just stuff.
"After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it." 1 Timothy 6:7 (NLT)
So, I wiped my eyes and made a choice to let go and be thankful. It seems to me that "letting go" applies to more than just teacups. It's a principle for all that is dear to us. We're always better off turning things over to God. Thankfully, He will remain a Faithful Friend and tell it like it is. I certainly need that, and not just for teacup disasters.
Copyright © 2008-2015 Heather Gwaltney
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