Balance

The priest said that this particular gospel story was troublesome for him. It was about a man who had abundance and was called a fool for trying to store it and keep it for himself. He would die before his plans to rest easy came to fruition. 

While it's true that we do not know when our last day will be, accepting an inheritance or investing isn't a bad idea. We do need to make some kind of plan for our future. The priest explained that the point of the gospel was not that we should reject abundance, but that we should find balance. We need to allow possessions to serve us and others without permitting them to control us. 

He told a modern day, true story of a good samaritan - a wealthy man who remained down to earth and literally put his own life at risk to save others on a regular basis. He was rich in the ways of God (or Love) and his possessions did not shape him or prevent him from serving others. 

Part of the point was that we need to look past the surface to access deeper meaning. Superficially, the gospel seems to imply that possessions and retirement plans are bad. A closer look might reveal that having money was not the problem. The problem came when the money stopped the doing of good deeds and caused complacency. 

We should not want abundance for the purpose of resting in comfort and forgetting about the work to be done. We might use abundance to assist in our work. I saw an interesting segment on "intention" recently...

Wishing you a beautiful week...

Love,

T