[Verse] We are the mirror As well as the face in it We are tasting the taste This minute of eternity
We are the pain And what cures the pain, both We are the cold sweet water And the jar that pours
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Gospel of Matthew 6.19-21 (NRSVUE) - Jesus says ...
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven (lit., the skies), where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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Ajahn Brahm, Theravada Buddhist author, monk, teacher -
I received a ... phone call ... from a Polish Australian woman: "Is there a talk at your center this evening?" she inquired. "Yes, madam. It starts at 8:00 P.M.," I told her. "How much do you have to pay?" she asked. "Nothing, madam, it's free," I explained. Then there was a pause.
"You haven't understood me," she said forcefully. "How much money do I have to give you to listen to the talk?" "Madam, you don't have to give any money, it's free," I said, as soothingly as I could.
"Listen!" she shouted at me down the line. "Dollars! Cents! How much must I cough up to get in?" "Madam, you don't have to cough up anything. You just walk in. Sit at the back, and leave whenever you like. No one will ask you for your name or address, you won't be handed any leaflets, and you won't be asked for any donation at the door. It's completely free." There was a long pause now.
Then she asked, sincerely wanting to know, "Well, what do you guys get out of this then?" "Happiness, madam," I answered. "Happiness."
These days, when anyone asks how much these teachings cost, I never say they are free. I say they are priceless.
*Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?
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The above story speaks to me about the joy of giving and receiving what is priceless. What is most important is beyond the price tag.
I may purchase something and enjoy it - like a good book or a delicious meal. The enjoyment is priceless. I can cherish how things and persons are means of grace. The invaluable is when the heart and mind are touched with inspiration and beauty.
Let us aspire to enjoy and share the priceless. Let us not engage in thoughts, activities, and words which detract from appreciation of what is of love.
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How might you do this? Does focusing on the priceless make sense in a culture where money and the market control most person's lives and hopes? It can make sense to you, regardless. When you give your life for the priceless, it gives itself to you.
Jesus reminds us where our "treasure" is, our heart will be also. By rightly valuing the priceless, our heart is in love with the priceless.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
