Friday, March 13, 2009

Where Does Our Wealth Go?

The other day, as I read yet another report about how much wealth Americans have lost, and as I opened my statement from a retirement mutual fund (sigh), I thought, I wish I had just given my money away to the poor.

Of course, if stocks had kept soaring, I might not have ever had that thought.

But it did give me pause.

Now, I haven't had lots of financial wealth. I'm a teacher, after all. One of the joys of not earning scads of money is that one doesn't lose scads of money. And I'm lucky, in that I've almost always earned enough to pay for my needs as well as a small luxury here and there.

And I've always tried to share what I have. I wish I could tithe the same amount as I save, but I save a bit more than I tithe. It's that scarcity consciousness rearing its ugly head. I'd like to operate out of a spirit of abundance, but I can't always manage that.

I wonder what would happen if I could have more faith that God would provide, if I took those passages seriously.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We should be able to keep track of the daily expenses and income that we are handling each day. A list of these is one way to start things up!

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

Yes, a list might be a good place to start.

And then, the courage to do something with that knowledge!

Thanks for commenting!