A Penny Saved

A book I am looking at right now makes the statement “The most common cause of discouragement has finances at its roots.” The reasoning? We grade people by finances. We put subtle pressure on each other to achieve “success.” In America, money is the report card of life. And for many, this leads to discouragement, anger, even hopelessness.

But money and riches are not a good measuring stick;and we need to jump off that bandwagon. For one, we do not truly know who is “rich”. I remember driving by a new development a few years ago with my mom and dad - big homes, many with play sets in the yards for small children. I made the comment that there must be a few rich people living there - my mom, who was a banker (loan department), said “No, just people who are spending way beyond their means - I’ve seen their finances and they are in trouble!”.

Also, money is a poor indicator of how a life is lived. I think we can all think of a few rich people and how they have destroyed their lives, how miserable they are, and how we would never want to trade places with them no matter how rich they might be.

So let us not become discouraged by the money yardstick - it is a very poor measurement indeed.

“Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Bible, Matthew 23:12).