Lent Devotional: Plaque

I knelt behind my desk to plug in my computer today and lo and behold I found a plaque!  Though I am still in my first year here I have begun to realize that there are many of these little golden gems within the walls of this church.  A few months ago there was a debate about some chairs that were broken and had been put into a small room.  Could we possible get rid of these chairs?  They had plaques on them and had been donated in memory of someone (that nobody could remember anymore).  We have plaques on file cabinets, hymnals, stained-glass windows, pulpits, candlesticks, altars...and the list could probably go on and on into eternity.  

I have no idea who Bonnie was, I found this on the internet today.  It made me chuckle, in light of my other discovery.  Discovering the plaque on the back of the desk only got me to thinking that when I die, I don't want people to put a gold plaque with my name on it on some piece of furniture.  Sure, I am grateful that people are willing to donate these things in order that our church function with beauty and efficiency.  I love it when someone's family donates funding for projects to the church after the loss of a beloved member of our community of faith.  I guess what this made me realize is what Jesus was trying to teach so long ago: 

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6)

Now I'm no biologist but I do find it interesting that in our bodies plaque refers to this stuff/gunk that builds up whether its on our teeth our in our arteries.  Either way plaque is nothing to joke about, and must he attended to in order that one remain healthy.  Plaques of both kinds like to stick around, don't they?  If we tossed the broken chairs out with the garbage, it was like we were tossing out the memory of someone who at one point meant a great deal to this church.  But, if we continue to save everything that had been donated in someone's memory, much like our arteries, the church would become clogged and not run smoothly.  

The real question that came to me this morning was, "What kind of legacy do I want to leave?"  I'm not planning on going anywhere, but the reality of it is that we never really know when our time on earth will end.  While I want to be remembered, I don't want someone to have to hold onto something with my name on it.  I imagine that all of us have items in our homes that represent someone we love, things that we don't want to get rid of because of the memories attached to them.  This is certainly a normal thing, yet also a challenge for us.  What kind of treasures are we storing up?  

You see, no matter how special a "thing" is, it will only last so long.  It is the time we spend with people that lasts forever.  It is the goodness that we put back into the world that matters most.  These are the kinds of things that we cannot put a plaque on.  

Do you have things in your life that are cluttering up your ability to live freely?  What would it take for you to hold onto the memories rather than the "things?"  

Lastly I leave you with the words from a song that I love, "When it's all Been Said and Done":

When it's all been said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth

Did I live my life for You

When it's all been said and done

All my treasures will mean nothing

Only what I've done for love's Reward

Will stand the test of time

Lord Your mercy is so great

That You look beyond our Weakness

And find purest gold in miry clay

Making sinners into saints

I will always sing Your praise

Here on earth and ever after

For You've shown me Heaven's my true home

When it's all been said and done

You're my life when life is gone

When it's all been said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth

Did I live my life for You

Lord I'll live my life for You

Prayer:  Lord, help me to store up treasures in heaven, to leave a legacy of good in this world.  Help me also to remember with great fondness and joy the many people that have helped make me who I am.  Thank you for the teachers, friends, and family members that I will never forget.  Help me to release the things that clog up my ability to live freely and abundantly.  I want to live my life for You.  Amen.