Mansions

When I think of a summer cottage, this is not what I would imagine. But this is what was reality not to long ago (late 1800s-mid 1900s) in homes like this in Newport, Rhode Island. I hesitate to call them houses. It's more like each is a museum and a collection of the most expensive furnishings, walls, floors, and decorations. It is beautiful, to be sure, when you enter these homes for a tour. The grandeur feeling as you enter makes you feel like you are special for being in there, like an invited guest. The architecture is admirable. The staircases are grand. The details are ornate, and you are walking on marble imported from Switzerland or somewhere.

Anyone can appreciate the artisan work and craftsmanship of the curving staircases, the gold details, the imported red marble, the carvings, and the artwork. But when you take the tour, you learn about the family and what drove them to have such expensive, grand, and fancy surroundings. It was all about money, power, and social standing. One home had to be nicer and bigger than the next. In one home, you hear about journal entries from the daughter, who writes about her lack of freedom as her mother prepares her for being married off to a duke. Strict rules for her, set by her mother, were in place to make the young girl a "perfect" specimen. And then the mother divorces the father, which was not the savvy thing at the time, but she used that spotlight as a platform to encourage other women to stand up and do whatever they wanted, too, like divorce. The stories about the families made me kind of sad.

It all made me think about Jesus' words from Matthew 6.19-21:
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, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

While these homes are beautiful to visit, and excellent examples of skilled craftsmanship, it also reminded me that none of it is eternal. They preserve everything and repair structures when they crack, but those 22k gold walls won't last forever. Though none of us have gold plated walls, we all have certain things that we treasure, and as I left those homes I kept hearing Jesus' words in my heart.

The gripping part of Jesus' words is the last sentence. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.