The next Ecclesiastes "saying" is, "A time to keep, and a time to cast away."  When I was younger, I kept almost everything that came my way.  Plastic bags, bread twist ties, empty glass jars, cardboard shoe boxes, paper towel and toilet paper tubes.  I had four children, and school projects were always in need of that kind of stuff.  But there came a day when I gladly threw it all away.  The same for extra linens, kitchen gadgets that I never used, cosmetics that were tried once and stuffed in a drawer.

When money is short, you have that feeling that there might come a day when you will need those things and won't be able to dig up the cash to repurchase--if you throw it out.  So you keep it.

My folks were "Depression survivors."  They came through the 20's when no one had anything.  My generation, and those that came after me, has no concept of the degree of poverty they endured.  When my mom died, and I was cleaning out the house, there were canned goods stashed under the beds and in the closets.  The freezer was crammed.  She had a real fear of not having enough to eat someday.  Women from that period didn't know if they would have enough food to be able to put a meal together for their families.  Men were desperate for jobs.  What we call a "depression" today is a small hiccup in the stock market.  In the twenties, people didn't know where their next meal was coming from--or if they would have one.

But there is a time to "cast away."  Sometimes, Ann and I go to garage sales--and I am amazed at some people's garages.  You can't get in them for the stacks of stuff.  So crammed that they couldn't find what they were looking for even if they needed it.

We need "give away" hearts.  If we don't need it, the best thing to do is to find someone who has a real need.  God provided for us.  Maybe we can provide for someone else.

Matthew, who was a tax collector, learned that lesson from Jesus.  He wrote Jesus' words to remind us:  "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal."  Matthew 6:19-20