You Can’t Take It With You

I’ve reached an age where I’ve attended enough funerals to recognize a simple truth. Everything stays here. The houses. The cars. The businesses. The investments. The trophies. None of it makes the journey into eternity.

And strangely enough, I’ve found that realization to be freeing. Because if we can’t take it with us, perhaps we shouldn’t hold onto it so tightly.

Perhaps God never intended possessions to become permanent. Perhaps He intended them to become tools. Tools to bless. Tools to encourage. Tools to serve.

Looking back, I’ve never met anyone who wished they had spent more time polishing trophies. But I have met people who wished they had spent more time with family. More time serving. More time loving.

Because influence lives longer than possessions.

Jesus taught His followers to store up treasures in heaven. Not because earthly blessings are bad. But because eternal treasures are better.

Epictetus wrote: “You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.” Those words are blunt, but humbling. Because they remind us that our bodies, possessions, and titles are temporary. But the soul is eternal.