What Do You Need to Walk Away From?

Rachel Watkins realizes the Rich Young Man has something to teach everyone, no matter how many possessions we have. 

I was never the girl who dreamt of being a bride, but I did keep a list of the names of my future babies. Two boys, two girls. My boys would be Gray and Storm (!!) and the girls would be either Victoria (Tory) and KC, a combination of K and C names but called by the initials. As it turns out I do have a K. Kathleen, who goes by the nickname Happy.  

Thinking about what the future might hold is a part of growing up. Our children might talk about the jobs they want to do, the places they want to go, and their dreams of getting a pony for Christmas. This continues as we grow up, attend college, and get married.  

Does your present match your hopes from the past?  

My own childhood predictions came back to me recently at Mass with the Gospel reading from Matthew 19:16-22. The rich young man approaches Jesus asking what he needs to do to gain eternal life. We know how it turned out: “He went away sad, for he had many possessions.”   

Peter has questions of his own after the encounter. “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27) He is reassured of the twelve thrones in heaven.   

And the rest of us?  

“Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29)

I was struck by a single word in the Gospel passage, “house,” which stayed with me as Mass concluded. Puzzled by this, I took some time to reflect. 

As with children’s names, I had real dreams for the house I hoped to live in. I grew up in a huge Victorian home with not one but two secret rooms. There was a wrap around porch and an attic window to the back porch roof you could actually sled out of if it snowed enough (true story) and more than large enough for my childhood family of 12.  

I don’t live in that house. My house, built in 1970, is a raised rancher and while we raised our own 11 children here it was a tight fit. Currently a source of mild frustration to both me and my husband, it is showing its age as well as the effects of that large family living, playing, learning, and celebrating in it for the past 25 years. And over those same 25 years, I will admit to real envy of friends whose homes are not mine. The reasons varied depending on my mood, but I often left those homes wishing they were mine.   

Do we believe God gives us good things?  

Unlike the rich young man, there’s no walking away from Jesus for me, but as I prayed about the word "house" I realized the problem. I had let the joy I felt when we first found our house fade as I focused more on what others had versus what I had been given.  

I wasted so many years in only seeing my home’s flaws and none its perks. Okay, there is no roof to slide off, but my living room wall was once covered in floor-to-ceiling mirrors my kids danced in front of, which we painted every holiday (true story). Everyone learned to swim in our pool, and my husband built them an awesome treehouse.   

Sure, I still want to replace the orange carpet we have disliked since our move-in day. But the first-floor living of a rancher is better than the huge staircases of a Victorian when you have limited mobility.   

The envy I carried for so long was actually a lack of gratitude for what God gave us. Sometimes what we need to give up for the sake of Jesus’ name are those things we long for and have never had because they were never a part of His will.  

Depending on your finances and family life, a long vacation might never happen for you — much less a trip to Disney. Are you okay with that? A new car? Fame? Fortune? To be blunt, do you battle envy for anything? If so, it’s time to walk away from whatever it is. We read in the Letter to the Hebrews, “Be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never forsake you or abandon you'” (Hebrews 13:5), not to mention those dwelling places He is preparing for us in eternal life. 

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Copyright 2025 Rachel Watkins
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