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In August my wife and daughters went to visit my dad in Colorado. He is advanced in age and wasn’t feeling well. He has a gravel front yard and weeds were growing profusely throughout. He doesn’t like gardening and I do, so I decided, with the help of my wife, to pull all the weeds. It wasn’t fun. It was hot and the weeds had deep roots. Not exactly what I had in mind for our summer vacation.

We were listening to Christian music and a song came on that one of my daughters had recently turned me onto. It was “The Prodigal” by Josiah Queen. One part of the song says, “I don’t need the money. I don’t want the fame. I don’t want what I can’t take with me in the grave. I don’t want to lose my soul, chasing after things that don’t lead me straight to you.”

I heard those words, and I looked at the weed in my grimy hand, and I said to that weed, “I’m taking you with me!”

I shouted to my wife, “I’m taking this one with me.” I gestured toward a nearby pile and told her, “I’m taking all these with me!” She looked at me like I was crazy and continued on, but I was a changed man.

That one phrase from the song, “I don’t want what I can’t take with me” stuck with me that day and has been on my mind ever since.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You can’t take it with you” when it comes to death and dying, but Josiah Queen radically reminded me that there are some things we can take with us, at least according to Jesus.

In the sermon on the mount, in Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What are those treasures that we can store up in heaven; that we can take with us? I think it is anything we do for others that comes from a heart of love that wants to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The context of these verses is one of practicing righteousness and rewards in heaven (6:1) Giving to the needy, praying and fasting. Jesus told his disciples that some people do these things from a heart of vain glory. They give to the needy, pray and fast to be seen and admired by humans. Jesus encourages his followers to be motivated by love for our Heavenly Father, knowing that when we do righteousness, we will be rewarded by Him, sometimes while we are alive on planet earth, and sometimes as a treasure in heaven.

Ever since that day, pulling weeds at Dad’s place, I do almost everything in light of the question, “Can I take it with me?” Material possessions have lost their luster for me. I can’t take them with me. They aren’t eternal. They are temporal and after awhile they rust or break and end up in the dump. But when I help, give, forgive, share, go the extra mile, bend over backward, love my enemies, pray for those who mistreat me, for the sake of Jesus and the glory of God, I know that I am taking that with me, in one way or another. It is in some sense eternal; in some way not only is the person I’m helping blessed, but I am blessed, now and forever.

Join me this new year on focusing on things we can do, ways we can help others, being generous with our time, talents and treasures, knowing that yes, we can take it with us.