{"id":11324,"date":"2022-10-11T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=11324"},"modified":"2022-10-11T10:47:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T15:47:16","slug":"where-your-treasure-is-there-will-your-heart-be-also","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/10\/11\/where-your-treasure-is-there-will-your-heart-be-also\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>On August 24th, <\/b>in the year 79 AD, after centuries of being a mountain, Mount Vesuvius became a killer. Maybe the mountain gave warning, some, a little, the animals acting strangely, maybe there was a low rumble, or a scent in the air\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 but when the volcano erupted it was as instant as a tornado, as thoroughly devastating as a World War II bombing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everybody knows about Pompeii, but it wasn\u2019t the only city destroyed. Just a little over 4 miles from Vesuvius, is the city of Herculaneum. Archeologists found many dead bodies there, but only one rated a nickname, \u201cThe Ring Lady of Herculaneum.\u201d<\/p>\n

They estimate she was 45 years old. What stands apart about her, from the other skeletons, is her jewelry. Was she rich, was she fashionable, was this how you\u2019d find her, any ole day of the week?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ring Lady of Herculaneum – age 45 – died at waterfront of her town trying to escape the eruption of Mount Vesuvius<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But knowing how humanity is, it\u2019s fair for us to wonder, that ole thing about \u201cIf the house was on fire, what would you grab?\u201d when Vesuvius rumbled, did this woman stop to gather – or worse -return, and lose time, and distance, to retrieve her jewelry?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Archeologists found her, nearly 2000 years later, buried beneath centuries of sediment, right near the waterfront, nowhere to go, there she lies, be-baubled with her jewelry, the very embodiment of the truth – You Can\u2019t Take It With You.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Youth Is For Chasing\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

We\u2019re born, we learn to crawl, walk, run, and then, we start chasing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re in a hurry to be a Somebody. We all want to be a Somebody. Problem is, the only somebody we\u2019re meant to be, is the one \u2018n only Us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That \u201ctrue us\u201d is not something to be chased, because it\u2019s not elsewhere, it\u2019s within us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, off we go, chasing, because everybody is chasing\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The longer we go, without truly knowing who we are, the more we depend on our accumulations of possessions, trophies, and symbols, to define us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am, what I do, I am where I\u2019ve been.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am, this money, that\u2019s more than your money.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am this house, that\u2019s bigger than your house.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ring Lady, was she the jewelry babe of Herculaneum? Would she feel naked without her bling? Did she not know that her life, pulse and breath, were her true valuables?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the archeologists found her, they focused on her jewelry. How long, I wonder, did it take for them to see the important things, that inside that skull, was once a brain, within those bones, was once a heart, and spirit. This was a life, a gift, from the Creator, and then it ended, and we don\u2019t know anything about her, except for what her jewelry tells us\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aging Is About Mattering\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

On Shell Beach Drive you\u2019ll find some of the old money homes. When I was younger, my parents drove us past these homes. We drove slow, if someone spoke, they whispered, like you\u2019d do at a cemetery. Homes, homes, but never any people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ran across this historical passage, a woman in the 1930s, her first impression of a famous Shell Beach home:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe K\u2026 home was the most pretentious house in Lake Charles… It stands far back, on a whole block of ground\u2026 Every tree and shrub imaginable\u2026 as well as every flower you can think of\u2026 It simply was beautiful to behold. In a fish pond as large as a room we saw hundreds of goldfish capering\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe lower floor\u2026 furnished beautifully, masterpieces of paintings and sculpture were everywhere\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA great table\u2026 to accommodate about 50 people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe stairway leading to the second floor, I don\u2019t know how many bedrooms were there\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe third story was made into a big ballroom, with seats along the walls, and a stage at the end for musicians and theatricals.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And now comes the part that hurt my heart \u2013 \u201cAnd all this was occupied now by two people\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cMr K\u2026 showed and explained all his treasures to us\u2026 he was so proud of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s not my place to judge, but it all sounds so hollow\u2026 and worse, common. Man has chased money as long as there\u2019s been man or money. There\u2019s nothing original here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You get old, you have a lot, but the more you have, the less it means, at the very time of life when meaning matters most…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God Makes It Matter\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done my chasing too. That\u2019s how I found that chasing wasn\u2019t for me. I lost a lot of time learning that lesson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As for me and my soul, with what is left of my life, I\u2019ve got it all simplified to four words: God makes it matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Being given a life was a great gift,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I do not want to insult the Giver\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By not being the Myself\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That I was meant to be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not want to be defined by\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Purchases\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Possessions,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Accumulations\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Passing situations\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At my best,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just want to be what I am,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I am aligned\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Him,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His perfection bettering\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My better-ification.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

————————————-\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This concludes this edition of Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories. Amen it, if it rings your bell. Everybody gets there, when they get there. Copies of Uncle P\u2019s three books can be found at Expressions, 3100 Ryan Street in Lake Charles, and at Flock o\u2019 Five 217 E Thomas, in Sulphur. Need books mailed, or just want to give Uncle P a piece of your mind, email him at eightyoneantiques@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0On August 24th, in the year 79 AD, after centuries of being a mountain, Mount Vesuvius became a killer. Maybe the mountain gave warning, some, a little, the animals acting strangely, maybe there was a low rumble, or a scent in the air\u2026\u00a0 \u2026 but when the volcano erupted it was as instant as a [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[59,894],"yoast_head":"\nWhere Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2022\/10\/11\/where-your-treasure-is-there-will-your-heart-be-also\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0On August 24th, in the year 79 AD, after centuries of being a mountain, Mount Vesuvius became a killer. 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