My Favourite Things

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things."

We're all familiar with these famous lyrics from The Sound of Music.  I thought of them a week or so ago when our priest led a Holy Thursday meditation which made the observation that the things we treasure most are also the things that define us.  He went on to say that we limit ourselves by what we value, that we can be only as "big" as what we hold most dear.

The point, of course, is to treasure God and the things of heaven more than anything else so that our spirits will be big enough to enter heaven and find our comfort there when the time comes.  I'm working hard to value possessions and distractions less and spiritual things more.  As I get older, it's perhaps a little easier than it used to be.

Right now, I would have to say that among my favourite things are God's human and animal creatures, my relationships with family and friends, God's creation (especially trees), and my country mile.  That makes my spirit pretty big already, I hope, but obviously I also need to be able to let go  of these favourites and set my sights even higher.  Wouldn't I be delightfully surprised, though, to discover that heaven is actually a forest?

It's hard to believe that heaven's setting could be better than this, but this is, after all, merely an earthly scene and no longer as perfect as when God first created our world.

I suspect that the best way to achieve some detachment from the things of this world and to gain attachment to the things of the next is to follow the example of Jesus, perhaps as we see it modeled by our Pope, Francis.  I'm hoping to live more simply and be more aware of the impact my choices have on our world and on others.  Hopefully, not a bad way to celebrate the remainder of this Easter season.