Wealth

Every place that I look, there are invitations to make a lot of money. Sweepstakes rule retail and lotteries are everywhere and growing. Each night the balls are chosen for the state games and there are winners of millions. One could get the impression that making a lot of money is the primary goal of life. Daily, the mail brings offers of great rates on credit cards, sales in stores and many chances to spend and save. Spend is the operative word here.

Rosie and I just spent a wonderful week at the beach with our extended family. The purpose of it was to celebrate our fifty-fifth wedding anniversary and to enjoy each other. We certainly did. We had a love filled dinner one night as the kids made a fabulous fish taco meal. I played golf with two of my daughters and one grandchild and had a wonderful day. On the night before our anniversary, the kids took us out to dinner and we celebrated the week with a feast for the Gods.

What we discovered during this week is the identity of real wealth. It certainly isn't money. What we seem to have created during the fifty-five years that we have been married has been a marvelous family. They have grown up to be incredibly responsible people who have created their own lives full of valuable work and relationships. Jennifer is a tenured professor at Penn State's New Kensington campus; Melanie is a nurse practitioner, and Heather is a youth worker in the inner city of Cleveland where she makes a difference to many families who are in deep stress. I preached at her church one Sunday and saw for myself the makeup of that congregation. I got the feeling that if Jesus had created a parish church, it would have looked like that one. The man next to me as I preached was homeless and many of the others there were in great need. The parish hosts a supper each week for the neighborhood and serves over a hundred people. They distribute clothing and other necessities to the families in their neighborhood. This places does an immense amount of good. I discovered again this week how very much I love this family of ours, and have pride in them. We are richly blessed by their lives and their work.

This is what wealth is about. It only marginally has anything to do with money, and then only as it is distributed. It has more to do with love. Love is what makes us all wealthy. Love can be easily given away and accumulated, and we all benefit from it. Thank God for all of the people who joined us at the beach for our celebration, and for all that they do.