Where Thieves Break In and Steal

It’s been a tough year financially! First, there has been the market meltdown that has reduced that portion of my retirement funds invested as a hedge against inflation. Then, just last week, another straw was added to the load.

On Thursday, some self-centered, immoral, and despicable person(s) broke into my house. The theft was probably driven by a drug addiction since the primary things taken were cash and jewelry along with some leftover painkillers from my back and prostate surgeries this past summer.

It’s not the monetary loss that disturbs me so much as it is the sense of violation of my private and heretofore believed to be secure world. Some of the things taken also had a very high sentimental value, such as my Father’s 32^nd Degree Masonic ring and a ring that Jessie’s brother had given to her many years ago. Some of the jewelry pieces taken were gifts from me to Jessie that I had obtained on my trips to Europe and Asia. As such, they were one-of-a-kind and not replaceable from on-shore sources.

This is the third time we have been burglarized—the first was in Memphis when our car was broken into and the second was about 25 years ago in the same house we now live in. It doesn’t get any easier.

However, on the bright side, I still have my wonderful family with all three children and three grandchildren living close by. Jessie (the love of my life) and I still have good health and we are active in church and community. I still am able to consult in my engineering field and enjoy what I do very much.

After the break-in, I read Matthew 6:19-21 several times.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NRSV)

And I am reminded of the “Serenity Prayer” in two forms. The first is my understanding of the original as written by Reinhold Niebuhr and the second is the most commonly used version.

God,

Give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,


courage to change the things
which should be changed,


and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

God,

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.