Pocket, Fridge, Heart

January 6, 2020

YOUR POCKET, YOUR FRIDGE, YOUR HEART

1. “What’s in your wallet?” How many times have we gritted our teeth through that commercial? I remember the line, but couldn’t tell you today which credit card company it represents. What I can say is how thankful I am for what is in my wallet; cash that years ago wasn’t there, credit cards that make it easy to pay for almost anything without having to carry around obscene amounts of cash, and insurance and Medicare cards, plus driver’s license and other cards that convey specific privileges in my home state. 

I know people whose only insurance is Medicaid, who instead of a credit card, have a government public assistance card; others who have no driver’s license, still others who carry medical emergency information. My wallet reveals a lot about where I happen to fall in today’s social system. If I fall, my wallet tells me the landing won’t be so hard.

2. Our refrigerator is always full. What more need I say? We are blessed with both variety and abundance to the point where occasionally we dig to the back and find things that have sat so long they need to be thrown away. Considering that people around the world go to bed hungry, if we had no more than a full refrigerator, we would have more than most. 

3. If my heart were as filled with as much good as my refrigerator, I would be a wise and holy man. That being said, because my heart is the home of the Holy Spirit, I possess a wisdom and holiness that is not my own, but which is the foundation of my life. 

Today’s Scripture reading came from Matthew 6, where Jesus comments on our life’s focus. “The light of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be single (focused, good), your whole body will be full of light.” When I am driving, if I look for more than a passing glance at something at the side of the road, I’ll inevitably drift towards whatever I’m looking at. I need to keep my focus straight ahead if I want to stay on the road. My life too, will drift towards whatever becomes my focus, which is why I deliberately focus on gratitude, grace, and God. If I look too long at the politics and power of this world, I’ll drift towards it like a moth to the flame. Wherever the eyes of my heart turn is where I will end up. Staying on the road takes continual vigilance; staying on life’s road requires it, too. It is no better to end up in a ditch at 70 than it would have been at 20. My eyes reveal what’s in my heart.