Who is rich? ...

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014. You cannot say that money would not be important for your life. If you struggle day by day to make your living, you know that it is important to have enough to eat, to have shelter, to have clothing! For modern societies, all this is summarized into a monetarian measure: primary care - enough money to make your living.

Money, Income - does it matter? …

But how much does money matter? Recently I accidentally surfed into some news groups where people discussed “being rich”. They had a heavy exchange about how much money you need per month to be “rich”. You can spend a lot of time on this - and not come to definite conclusions. It depends on your environment, where you live - in a big town or far away from economic centers, what you expect to do or have, how many dependents are in your household etc etc.

I would say that when you look into it a little deeper, you will see that ultimately money does not matter very much when it comes to the purpose you feel in your life. It does not matter when it comes to joy, to thankfulness, to friendship, to love … it just does not matter! Our life is so much more than the money or possessions we might have. Our world is so much greater than the trouble we get into if we try to make a lot of money …

Just to make sure we do not misunderstand each other: it is important to work thorougly. It matters to do your job properly, to earn your living yourself. It matters what we do, how we plan, how we approach to care for one another. Making our living is a part of this, and money is a part of it as well. In this sense we are called to deal with money properly. The apostles make it quite clear: earn your living in a proper way. Work thoroughly. Be enthusiastic about what you do.

The Joy which Counts! …

It can cause joy when you manage to get some job, some project, some support or contract. When people acknowledge that you do good work, then it can be very motivating. But in all of this we should always know that the value of things is so much greater than all our money together, that we just cannot compere it! What exactly do I mean?

Humans can jump. Humans can run. Humans can play. Doing sports, playing football or basketball, running long miles, going by bike into the countryside, swimming, … all this you cannot buy using money. Your body is fantastic. It is a machine which is more advanced than anything humans ever invented, more advanced than anything we will invent! Even each animal on this planet is a fantastic being, able to move or fly or jump … breathtaking! Just seeing these is fantastic. Being a part of it, playing the game, doing the sports, running, jumping, competing, having a lot of fun with your own body … it is so much more than you can buy with all the money of the world!

Honestly, how stupid are we, to focus on the wrong things all the time. I include myself - we are all part of our social environment, we are all not free of the limits of our time. We are all shaped by its expectations, by the big waves of priorities and viewpoints which shapes each time.

And humans are so much more than just a body which can run or jump. We are beings with sensitivity, with a soul, with the ability to talk, to plan, to paint, to shape, to explore … We become rich the moment we start to see what is there all the time, in our immediate environment, and in us and with us, day by day, every second of our life! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts