“You Can’t Take It With You” is the title of a Pulitzer-winning Kaufman and Hart play that was a hit when it opened in 1936 on Broadway, playing 837 performances. Two years later the play was transformed into a movie that won an Academy Award for best picture. The Broadway production was revived in 1965 and 1983. Why?
I believe it is the universality of its message. Maybe the time is right to bring it back. The play caused people to re-evaluate their vision of the American Dream that had become such a nightmare for some. They questioned their work ethic and the value of money, much of it lost in the Great Depression. The play raised the questions of the day that many of us are faced with now, with our nation in severe recession. Possessions may fall by the wayside. But family icon Grandpa protested, “Nobody can take my happiness away from me, no matter what they do to the world.”
Grandpa’s insistence on clinging to his happiness reminds us that no matter what may happen, we are never alone in this world. There is an invisible companion who longs for our company. God is with us. In Him we find our happiness, and here is where we should put our heart.
In the Gospel of Matthew, 6:19-21, we are admonished: 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.
Heavenly Father of the universe, help us all to see that the only thing of true value in our lives is our relationship with You and Your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen
