Anybody collect something? The earliest thing I can remember collecting are Barbie doll shoes. I had pill bottles full of the little shoes, all high heels, myriads of colors. Guess Barbie’s boy friend Ken only had the pair of shoes he arrived wearing. I can’t remember playing with anything but the shoes. Pouring them out of the amber pill bottles and matching them up. I’d sit on the floor in the sun room and line them up in rows.

From the Barbie doll shoes I graduated to Raggedy Ann dolls. She had 35 friends join her through several years of collecting. Then came a collection of Dr. Seuss books, a gallon jar marble gathering, a rock hammer and rock samples. Then Santa Claus left me a Hope Chest. My brothers called it a “Hopeless Chest.” That chest started a collection of Christmas china that is still ongoing.

When I got married I had a chicken and rooster collecting problem. For my first Mother’s Day Chief gave me a small flock of chickens. I was thrilled. Forty years later those little peeps are still my favorite Mother’s Day gift. And I can’t forget my collections of western paperback novels, historical romances, biographies, best sellers, bird guides, and children’s books. Add Chief’s 20 plus sets of encourage and I could open a book store.

My friend Linda taught me the art of thrift store collecting. Those trips began an agglomeration of ladies’ white gloves and fox stoles, odd glassware and crystal pieces, demitasse cups, Christmas ornaments, old sequined prom dresses for Christmas tree skirts, china, songbird figurines, glass paperweights, clip on earrings, and costume jewelry for my bathroom Christmas tree. Now in my dotage with a three story house bulging, I’m proud to say I’m confining my collecting to songbird Christmas ornaments.

Bible scripture in Matthew 6 verses 19-21 tells us not to collect up treasures on earth but to focus on our spiritual treasures. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our earthly possessions can be destroyed but our heavenly treasures are eternal. We invest in our spiritual life by acts of kindness and faith, by living with God in our hearts. Small acts of service and Christian sacrifice are noticed by the Lord and store up eternal treasure. “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward,” Matthew 10:42.

Our house was robbed years ago and lots of my favorite collectibles were stolen. We asked our Episcopal Priest Al Perkins to come and bless the house to bring warmth and joy back into our home. I’ll never forget what he told me as he walked up the porch steps. He patted my shoulder and said, “Lane, that was just stuff that was stolen. Your treasures are gathered in heaven.” Those words eased my angst and I was grateful to feel happy and at peace in my home again.

Jesus is our greatest treasure. “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain,” 1 Corinthians 15:58. The treasures we store up on earth are temporary and easily destroyed. If our hearts follow God our treasure will be spiritual and eternal.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” — Luke 12:34