“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” ~ Plato
We can never have enough. We always want more. These are themes that we embrace from a very early age. Watch any child playing with toys. The toys of others become just as coveted as the child’s own toys. Of course, the child’s toys are coveted by the other children as well. Skirmishes happen and toys fly all over the place.
We might think that is funny; but, that same kind of attitude grows and develops even as we do. It becomes “toys” no longer but develops into money, possessions, employment advancements and a whole host of other things. The more that people achieve their desires, the more wants they seem to develop.
It takes a great philosopher four to five hundred years before Christ to remind us that wealth is not everything. He tell us that “the greatest wealth is to live content with little.” I have seen this at work many times in my life and I am sure you can cite many examples as well.
There are religious orders who take extreme vows of poverty and whose members have practically nothing to their name; yet, they are all happy and content. There are many impoverished people who willingly add a place at the table to welcome a guest, adding water to their already thin soup, in order to feed another mouth. And yet, around the table, the conversation is lively and filled with love, happiness, and contentment.
We do our souls a great disservice when we desire more. Our avarice can take us away from God quite easily. The more we focus on material wants, the more we will take our eyes off of God who alone can supply what we truly need: eternal life. What a horror to think that some might give up eternal life with God because they had become too consumed with everything that they thought the world could give them. Even achieving what they wanted from the world, all they could want was more. What a horrible way to live.
FAITH ACTION: If you find that your want for material goods and gain is more than your want for God, do what you can to let go of your worldly desires and to embrace the Lord.