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Good morning. My mother’s family always had a bit of a thing about inheritance. In my childhood I was repeatedly told about a priceless portrait belonging to some distant relatives in Galway. My grandmother had somehow ensured that one day it would be mine.
Years went by, and eventually the painting of an early eighteenth century lady arrived. Irish customs valued it at twenty-five pounds. My mother disagreed, and took it off to be examined by an expert. Had it been genuine, he said, it would have been worth a hundred thousand pounds. Unfortunately it was a rather poor copy. My remote relatives had obviously fallen on hard times and sold off the original, replacing it with an almost worthless daub.

The experience however made me think about something that I really do value. Many years ago, while still at primary school our youngest daughter painted an acrylic picture of her favourite rag doll. It’s the first thing that I see every morning. It’s not a masterpiece, but it was created and given in love, and that’s its true worth.

Loving-kindness and generosity of spirit can transform seemingly worthless items into objects that have an eternal value for those who receive them. I suspect that that has something to do with what Jesus meant when he spoke about the importance of storing up ‘treasure in heaven’.

Heavenly Father, help us to see the value given to apparently insignificant or worthless things by the transforming power of love. Enable us to glimpse in them the treasure in heaven that the Christian faith teaches will await us: that love which never ends. Amen.

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