Storing Up Treasures

Over the last year, I’ve developed a fascination with a woman named Isabella Stewart Gardner, known by some as “America’s first great art collector.” Isabella lost her son when he was only two years old, and later lost her husband as well. She channeled that grief into procuring art from masters including Degas, Vermeer, and Rembrandt, and then building a unique museum in Boston to house her collection. In a time when women were rarely involved in architecture, Isabella poured herself into every detail of her project, from the overall layout to the choice of tile on the floor. She was adamant that after her death, the museum should remain exactly the same. No additions, no subtractions. When questioned about this, she simply said, “My museum will live.” In her own way, Isabella was trying to create immortality on earth, a gift she had longed to give her own son and husband.

Despite Isabella’s wishes though, the truths of Matthew 6:19 came to pass: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” In 1990, thieves stole 13 works, worth in total over $500 million. When I visited her museum, the most memorable part was staring at the empty frame of Rembrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” Some consider this to be Rembrandt’s finest work, and the thieves easily cut it out of its frame on the wall. It remains missing, but true to Isabella’s edict, the museum curators did not touch the empty frame. Seeing this for myself was a forceful reminder that as hard as we work here on earth, we really can take nothing with us. This is not to say that what God calls us to build and create here is without meaning, but we need to remember our priorities, and that God Himself is the source of all beauty, life, and wealth.