Putting Up

My sweet, sweet husband is always looking out for us.  Normally each summer I can tomatoes.  In recent years I've been able to find bushel boxes for about $10 at the Public Market downtown.  This year, however, no such luck.  Prices have been high, and are staying that way.  No canning this year, I thought.  No big deal, as we have several quarts left from last year.  We'll make due.

Then, a friend of my hubby's from work, offered him free tomatoes.  This friend is a farmer on the side and had many tomatoes he didn't think would make it to the weekend market.  Awesome!  We're back in the tomato business.  Major blessing!  So before work today, and again tonight, I will be up to my elbows in red, slippery goodness.  There's something about the smell; the feel.  It reminds me of Autumn, my favorite time of the year.

Putting up.  It's something we do.  Storing away things from the summer to be used later on.  In the middle of winter, fruits and veggies just taste better when I know I've canned them myself.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:20

That's fine for fruits and veggies, but they don't last forever.  Nor do the material things we gather through a lifetime.  Are you "putting up" for eternity?  What kind of things last forever? 

Mercy.  Kindness.  Love.

The acts we do today will be preserved on a shelf in Heaven.  Reaching out to someone in need and blessing them with the abundance of what you have.  By giving away what we have on earth, we can be weathy forever.  I can't wait until the day when I can walk into God's pantry and see all of the incredible works that will last for eternity.  What a grand collection of jars that must be!