More Than Money
“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
My early, early, early years were marked by one stupendous thing: money. (I sure hope that I am not the only one who says this.) I remember early thoughts of money. I was excited every time we went to see my grandma and grandpa. Why? I knew, on top of everything else, I was going to come home with money. I was excited every time we went to see a certain aunt. I knew that I would be coming home with money. I was excited when we went to visit a certain family friend. Why? Money. You get the picture.
To a child of my time, money was everything. It gave us the pocket change that we needed to go to the local candy store. It gave us the pocket change that we needed to buy baseball card packages. It made us feel special. When I was old enough, my parents began to give me an allowance. Wow. More free money.
Then I began to get older and more mature. I began to realize that money was not the be-all and end-all of things. There were many things much more important than money. To a young child, that seems incredulous. As we grow older, though, we come to understand that. At least, most of us come to understand that.
There are some who never grow past the “money is everything” stage of life. They spend their entire lives trying to get as much money as possible. They want their bank accounts to be bloated, not just full. They want continuous raises in their jobs. They want to get as much money in transactions as possible. But the people in their lives? Well, they just do not count as much as money.
Money can secure a certain amount of security in one’s life. There is no argument from me on that point. Money cannot buy happiness, however. The person who truly believes that money can buy happiness will never be happy or fulfilled because that person will never believe that he or she was acquired enough. The pursuit of money will take over every other aspect of their lives and they will find themselves frustrated and unfulfilled and, perhaps, even friendless.
God blesses us with many things in life and financial security can even be one of those things. However, any blessing we have is not an end in itself. It needs to be appreciated and put into perspective. Otherwise, we run the risk of having it become more important to us than God. That would not only be a shame, it could also endanger our very souls.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God for the grace to let go of things that are not important so that you may grasp Him more tightly.