Claire King writes that there must be days when God looks down upon us with tenderness and amusement. We, too, must have encountered that same look as someone’s child or grandchild. Do you recall when you loved so fiercely that you spent hours or days working on something you could give to the one you loved? And you felt such pride in the work and joy in the giving? Whether it landed a prime space on the refrigerator door, tucked away in a jewelry box, or displayed in a scrapbook, you created it with your hands and tenacious ingenuity. There are things we have to have. It starts when we are children, wanting that toy every kid in the world is getting for Christmas. Then, that pair of jeans or cool shirt every kid is wearing. As we age, our needs become more high-end: the newest electronic device, the latest car, the biggest house, and the most fabulous vacation. Everyone has it or is getting it. Jay Cormier writes that Jesus warns us about wanting and collecting “stuff.” Whatever happened to all of that stuff, anyway? It was replaced by other stuff. We are obsessed with building bigger and more beautiful temples, forgetting that the holiness of God is found in the quiet within. We are so busy creating the perfect lifestyle that we miss out on living lives of meaning and purpose. God calls us to seek more precious and lasting gifts than this world can offer—treasures like compassion, reconciliation, justice, and peace. What is required first, however, is to give up the attitudes and avarice that make possessing the things of God difficult, if not impossible. Do not become obsessed, Jesus says, with the “stones” that will one day collapse and become dust, but seek the lasting things of the soul, the things of God, the real treasures of this life. “All that you see here, the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Heavenly Father, help us remember that time is an illusion; only love remains.