The treasured towels

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.  Matthew 6:19-20 (NIV)

I don't know why, but this morning as I was showering, I thought about a set of bath towels Jay and I  received as a wedding gift when we got married back in 1995.  They were so nice and thick, tan and beige checkered.  I can still remember who got them for us.  They were from the parents of three local boys Jay and I have been friends with since forever. 

At the time Jay and I lived in a trailer and it had color schemes.  Of course, mauve or rose and country blue dominated the trailer's prefab interior, but hunter green, burgundy and navy blue (remember the jewel tones) was the popular trend at that time and that is what I went with.  I decided to paint the big bathroom burgundy, which actually turned out to be Barney Purple (you know what I'm talking about) and it was hideous.  But on our registry, I put down that our bathroom color scheme was burgundy and hunter green.

And we did get a bunch of burgundy and hunter green towels, and also some turquoise-colored towels (someone's color wheel was a little off but they worked), and the above-mentioned very nice, thick set of tan/beige towels.  I proudly displayed the burgundy and hunter green towels and put away the tan/beige checked towels because I had decided they were way too nice to be using.  I packed them away and thought we would use them later, for good.  Yes, that makes sense.

Jay and I lived in that trailer from 1995 until 1997, then moved to Lawrenceville and rented a house until 1998, then bought our first house and stayed there until we moved home in December of 2000.  When we moved home, we lived temporarily in a house until our house was built and we moved in there around September of 2001.  We carried those checked tan/beige towels along with us each move...but never used them because they were too good.  I was saving them for later...for like the president or something.

We finally broke those towels out of their storage box in, I think, 2002 and put them to use in our bathroom.  As in, we are actually using them, they're not just sitting out as pretties.  In fact, as I dried off with one of them this morning, I noticed that it is falling apart.  (Maybe the moths and vermin finally got to them?)  I suppose they've held up pretty well considering they were purchased in the summer of 1995.  We actually still own quite a few of the burgundy, hunter green and turquoise towels.  They are now our "dog" towels, but we've used them on various animals, cows, goats, cats, etc.

I do this from time to time, I save stuff that people give to me because I think it is just too nice to waste or too nice to use up too quickly.  I have saved bath/shower gel before because it was from Bath & Body and thought it was just too expensive to waste on everyday use.  Ha.  I hit a clearance sale after Christmas and bought some for $2.75 a bottle.  Apparently, it's not that precious.

I suppose we're all guilty of storing up treasures here on earth every now and then...or at least I am.  But honestly, it is just stuff.  Those checkered tan/beige towels were nice, but the cheap bright turquoise ones did the trick too.  We carried around those silly "good" towels for seven years before using them.  Why?  What was I waiting for?  I just had to laugh when I thought about that this morning.  In heaven, we won't even need towels...did I think Jesus might need a soft, plush tan/beige checkered towel up there or what? 

So go on, get out your good towels and use that bath gel.  Jesus won't need it later and neither will you.