Reflection

Pablo Picasso said “I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money”. Me too! I long for a simple life, a simple budget. It is that time of year again, where William and I both have what is termed Open Enrollment at our places of work. This is a time when we look over our work benefits and decide what we need and which combination offers the best advantages at the best price. A time to think about those things we never really want to think about such as life insurance, health insurance; basically all the ways in which things can go wrong in life. Like everyone else, we try to find the balance between adequate coverage in the event of the unexpected, yet not over buying on things we might not need. This is a time of playing “what if” for the year ahead. What if one of is laid off? What if Jacob needs glasses? What if someone gets really sick? How much do we want to save? Tithe? Spend on Christmas? All of this has me thinking about the parable of the talents, Mathew 25:13-30, where the returning master says to the servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things.” So often I think I fail in doing small things rightly, I think who will see? Who will notice? It’s just this once. It isn’t that any one choice is some huge sin, for instance buying more expensive convenience foods or letting a lot of receipts and trash build up in my purse. It is the attitude of laziness in me, just an unwillingness to deal with things because I don’t “feel like it”. I don’t feel like entering all my benefits data into a spreadsheet and doing an analysis with Will over what is best for our family next year. A) It is boring and B) I don’t like thinking about all the things that could go wrong. But this parable shows that Christ Jesus calls us to do the most with what we are given, and only then can we be entrusted with more. I am mindful of times in my life when I had none of these decisions to make, because I had no money. I remember when I had a grocery budget of $50 a month and no car and standing in the rain and cold waiting for the bus. “New” clothes came from Goodwill and I came home each night to an answering machine full of messages from bill collectors. I also remember a time later when I had plenty of money and yet I cannot to this day tell you what I spent it all on! I actually don’t feel any shame about being as poor as I was; in truth I am more ashamed of those early years in my career when I had money but spent it unwisely. In ten more years, when I look back to now, I can only hope that I have chosen wisely with the resources God has provided.