A few blocks from where I live, there is a cross alongside the road…you know, one of those crosses erected at an accident scene when someone is killed. It was beautiful for a long time, adorned with items connected to the victim. But as time passed, the cross was tilted, even dirty. There were no more flowers, and other items were no longer there. It was nothing like it was in the beginning. It reminded me that this cross and its surrounding was a snapshot of our world.

We buy a house, fill it with lovely furnishings, fill our closets with beautiful clothes, and present the perfect self to the outside world. But as time goes by, we find that material things are less important because they become worn, broken, and not attractive as they once were. Some of them we give away, we put aside, and we long for the days when “everything will be made new.” Where have we heard that before?

Jesus told us that earthly things wouldn’t last but that our future was in heaven! In Matthew 6:19, Jesus says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume …; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

When things wear out, when the paint peels, remember what will last. Our perfect eternal home is in heaven…where all things will be made new!

About the author: Previously the priest at St. Francis of Assisi in Lake Placid for 21 years, Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson is now the Priest at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in LaBelle.