Eight million dollars sounds like a fortune.
But if money becomes your identity…
you may discover too late that wealth and riches are not the same thing.
I know of a man and have known about him for years who likes to boast about how much MONEY he has made.
Eight million dollars.
That number travels with him.
It enters the room before anything else does.
It is part of his introduction.
Part of his identity.
Part of how he measures himself.
He owns his home.
He has accumulated wealth.
He has made provisions for where some of that money may eventually go.
On paper…
SUCCESS.
But paper does not tell the whole story.
I GOT MONEY
When I first met him, he made a reasonably good first impression.
But after that, conversation remained shallow.
There never seemed to be much depth beyond what he owned, what he had accumulated, and what he had accomplished financially.
Eventually he told me about his money.
I remarked that money, by itself, was not the most important measurement of a person.
That did not go over very well.
LOL.
From there, we remained at arm’s length.
I understood something.
In his world…
I did not count for much.
Money did.
PAUSE FOR CAUSE.
There is nothing wrong with making money.
There is nothing wrong with having money.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the rewards of your labor.
The danger begins when money stops being something you HAVE…
and becomes what you ARE.
WHEN THE MONEY CANNOT HELP
Years later, this man became seriously ill and required medical care.
And suddenly…
the bank account could not perform the one service human beings need most during difficult times.
LOVE.
Money can hire assistance.
It can purchase comfort.
It can provide medicine.
It can pay bills.
It can buy a beautiful room.
But money cannot manufacture genuine affection.
It cannot create loyalty.
It cannot force somebody to care.
That has to be built somewhere else.
And if those relationships were never cultivated…
the silence can become very loud.
IN GOD WE TRUST
Watching someone place almost all of their trust, identity and purpose into money is always a lesson.
A dollar bill even reminds us:
IN GOD WE TRUST.
Not:
IN MONEY WE TRUST.
There is a difference.
The poor in spirit can possess tremendous material wealth and still be unable to find the riches within themselves.
They found the outside reward.
The thing that can be counted.
Stored.
Invested.
Displayed.
But what about the things that cannot be stored in a vault?
Compassion.
Love.
Friendship.
Generosity.
Humility.
Character.
A good name.
A grateful heart.
Those riches behave differently.
They grow when they are GIVEN.
GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE
Hasn’t everyone heard of Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL?
Ebenezer Scrooge is one of literature’s greatest examples of a person who confused money with life.
He did not begin as the cold man we eventually meet.
Little by little…
he became that person.
Money moved toward the center.
People moved away from it.
His heart became harder.
His world became smaller.
And although he possessed wealth…
he was poor in nearly everything that gives wealth meaning.
Then came his extraordinary second chance.
That is the part people should never forget.
Scrooge did not merely discover that he was wrong.
He CHANGED.
HEART OF STONE…WORTHLESS
A heart of stone has very little market value.
Nobody wants affection from stone.
Nobody seeks comfort from stone.
Nobody wants friendship from stone.
Stone does not listen.
Stone does not forgive.
Stone does not embrace.
Stone does not say:
“I am glad you are here.”
A human being can acquire everything outside themselves while slowly burying what makes them human inside.
That is not success.
That is an expensive form of poverty.
WHAT WILL THE MONEY SAY?
Eventually every wealthy person, poor person, successful person and struggling person reaches the same unavoidable reality.
We leave.
The question then becomes:
What did all of this mean?
The money does not get the final word.
The possessions do not get the final word.
The house does not speak at the funeral.
The investment account cannot stand up and tell stories about you.
PEOPLE do that.
Their memories do.
Their experiences with you do.
Their lives may carry something you gave them long after your bank account belongs to somebody else.
That is legacy.
THANK YOU…BE THANKFUL
Scrooge found the better way.
By the end of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the lesson was not that money itself was evil.
The lesson was that money without humanity had made him miserable.
When his heart changed…
his money became useful.
His generosity became useful.
His presence became useful.
HE became useful.
That is the transformation.
The riches outside finally came under the direction of the riches inside.
NOW THE MONEY HAD PURPOSE.
RICHIE SPEAKS
Here is one Richie rule:
Money makes a wonderful servant and a terrible identity.
Another:
If all people remember about you is what you owned…
you may have left them very little to remember.
And one more:
Do not spend your whole life becoming rich only to discover you became poor somewhere else.
PEARLS FROM THE BOOKS
From the spirit of Pearls for the Soul:
“True wealth is measured not only by what enters your hands, but by what leaves your heart and improves another life.”
From the spirit of God I AM:
“What is within you determines what anything outside you ultimately becomes.”
From the spirit of Epilogue of Ebenezer Scrooge: A Second Chance:
“A second chance becomes valuable only when the person receiving it chooses to live differently.”
PEARLS INSIGHT
Money can provide security, comfort, opportunity and freedom.
But it cannot replace relationships, character, gratitude or purpose.
Financial success becomes more meaningful when it supports life instead of defining life.
Legacy is usually remembered through impact:
how someone treated people,
what they gave,
what they taught,
who they helped,
and what kind of person they became.
Money can be part of that legacy.
It should not have to BE the legacy.
PEARLS CONNECTION
This connects directly with THIS PERSPECTIVE ON MATERIAL GOODS CAN HELP YOU.
Things are useful.
They are not the owner.
It also connects with HOW YOU COME TO HAVE MONEY…THAT IS WHAT COUNTS.
The amount matters less than what the money says about the life surrounding it.
And MORE VALUABLE THAN GOLD…A PERSON’S WORD reminds us that credibility, trust and character can outlive financial gain.
Money may be counted.
Character is remembered.
FINAL SAY
Eight million dollars.
Wonderful.
Now tell me something more important.
Who loves you?
Who trusts you?
Who smiles when your name is mentioned?
Who became stronger because you were here?
Who learned something from you?
Who did you help?
What did you give away besides money?
What part of yourself did you leave in another human being?
PAUSE FOR CAUSE.
That is a different accounting system.
And one day…
it may be the only one that matters.
Scrooge received another chance.
He finally learned that a fortune becomes valuable when it begins serving something greater than itself.
So I bring the question to YOU.
WHAT WILL YOUR LEGACY BE?
I hope it is not merely:
“He had money.”
I hope somebody can say:
“He had something much richer than that.”
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you