You Can't Take It With You

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

Luke 12:34


Vacationing on the island of Maui this past week, I was reminded once again that those who live life to the fullest, the kind of life John 10:10 reminds us Jesus came to give us happens when we fill our lives with adventures, not things so that we might have stories to share and not just stuff to show. After all, the old saying is true, “you never see a hearse pulling a U-haul.” The book of Revelation reminds us that one way we overcome the evil one is by the word of our testimony. In other words, like in my favorite kind of action movies the one line that gets used often is, “proof of life” where someone is taken hostage and the person who is negotiating a deal to save them wants some tangible evidence from the captors that the person is still alive. Thats the kind of testimony the book of Revelation is speaking of. Our lives testify we have been born again. The way we live proves we are alive from the dead.

Each of our lives has a story to tell and its important to note that we all get to choose much of what is written in each chapter of our lives. I thought about that a lot each day of our trip. I wanted to make memories with my wife on an island where every store you go into is attempting to sell you stuff to enhance your stay. From Tommy Bahama shirts to sun glasses, you name it they were selling it. Heck, even the place we were fortunate to stay was a time share. Not ours, but a beautiful time share none the less.

My wife and I didn’t really have an agenda for this vacation, we didn’t create a day to day plan as the main goal of this particular trip was to relax and just enjoy time away together, something we don’t get to do very often. Sure, we picked a few restaurants we wanted to try and a couple of things that sounded like fun if we got around to it but this vacation wasn’t about doing stuff, it was simply enjoying making memories of us. One of my most memorable moments of the trip was taking a leisurely drive around the island. Not all the way around, just a few miles up the road scoping out a beach we want to maybe bring our grandkids to one day. On our snorkeling trip the day before one of our guides had told me there was a mobile coconut stand where you could buy coconut gelato and coconut milk right from the coconut. We saw it on our drive and stopped and shared a lavender coconut shaved ice, standing in a turn out on the side of the road. I stood there holding a little paper cup with a mound of ice drenched in lavender syrup with two tiny plastic spoons. For a few moments I felt like a high school kid again out in a friends borrowed car with the prettiest girl in the school sharing a dessert together. It was a communion of sorts.  

The last day of our trip we slept in and then went to the beach to lay in the sand and soak up some tropical sun before heading home. I waded out into the surf watching my wife like she was just a young girl looking for treasures on the shore. She loves hearts and we usually walk the beaches looking for rocks but up to this point we had not done that. She had a handful of pieces of coral that were being washed up on the shore. Each of them looked like a heart and the smile on her face was one of contentment that let me know she was relaxed and that her own heart was full. As she searched for treasures I was bobbing up and down like a cork just a few yards of shore straight out from her, just enjoying her enjoying life. My heart was full.

A number of years ago we were in Maui with a group of friends and discovered a local dessert favorite known as, “Hula Pie”. Made from vanilla ice cream with a top layer of fudge and a crust made of Oreo cookies drizzled with chocolate sauce and whipped creme, sprinkled with macadamia nuts. We ate one on four different occasions that week (never twice in the same day, lol) and each bite was heavenly. The type of dessert you could make at home but there is just something about having it in Hawaii that makes it taste better. The memory I have of my wife’s face enjoying each bite I won’t soon forget as I love the look of satisfaction, that look she gets in her eyes when she’s happy about a choice she made or when she discovers something new, usually food.

I will cherish the memories, from watching her do yoga in the morning to start her day, to me feeding the birds who came searching for food each day and my wife telling me the birds were going to poop on the balcony, to walking hand in hand with her along the boardwalk with her fingers laced between mine. I have so many memories that didn’t cost me a dime, proof again that the best things in life can’t be bought with money. The best things in life are shared experiences we get to enjoy with others and the memories those shared moments provide.

Yes, loved one, Hawaii was a great reminder that life is not about stuff, it’s about adventures to share with those we love so that we have stores to tell. That is why the Christian life is often referred to as a “walk” as Jesus invites us to walk with Him every day, to share our lives with Him knowing when we do His story becomes our story and when that happens we make history! Live life to the fullest today, walk with God, focusing on making memories not just acquiring stuff. Get to know God, knowing when we do we don’t just have a story to tell people, we have a testimony to share, His-story in the making!

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Revelation 3:20


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