Now here’s one you have to think about for a minute. The reading-it’s a little saying I heard a couple of weeks ago and it has stayed with me. I’ll say it twice.

‘Everything you own in life will either be given away or taken from you.’

‘Everything you own in life will either be given away or taken from you.’

Think about that, how true it is. When I heard it the first time I thought, that is so true. Everything we have! And if you’re like me, we have a lot of stuff.

[laughter]

We’ve got a lot of stuff.

I was thinking of the gospel. I was thinking of my sister Kathy. God I love my sister Kathy. My oldest sister. But she is an older sister. And at Christmas we always decide to make a pact, we’re not buying presents for one another. We’re not! Not even cheater gifts. Of course, everybody cheats!

[laughter]

And every year my sister gives me black socks and underwear.

[laughter]

I have about 80 pairs of underwear and black socks that have never been used. Actually, I give them away Kath. But think about that, all the stuff we have. And the gospel really poses a question. What’s important? What is the true treasure?

And it’s presented in a pretty interesting way.

Either we’re kind of walking through life and we stumble across something and we recognize its value -the treasure; and we kind of sell everything we have after we bury that treasure because we want to hold on to it. And then they buy the fields, so that guaranteed that you still have that treasure. Or, there’s something you want in life that you go searching for and finally you find it and it’s the pearl of great price and you buy it.

Often times, young people are searching for that right person and they find it one way or another and we call it love.

What do you truly value? What do you truly treasure? What is most important to you in this life?

I might make a suggestion. I think it will resonate with all of us.

The greatest treasure, the pearl of great price is our faith. It’s our relationship with the Lord and being a disciple of the Lord.

The greatest treasure, the greatest pearl is our family and our friends and meaningful work, using the gifts that God has given to us. Faith and family and friends and meaningful work -the pearl of great price, the great treasure in our lives.