Taking Stock

It has been a rough week for anyone who has money in the market. Even more turbulent for those professionals who work in finance, like one of my brothers.

During the week of "vacation" he had to drive 7 hours to the office during mid-week to help discern strategy and assist clients, and then he decided to drive another 7 hours back to Ocean City. At the beach house, CNN's minute-by-minute reporting on the wild market fluctuations created a whipsawing vibe.

When the market was going up, I envied how high his cart got on the roller coaster. Now, that it is all taking a dive, I feel empathy for his predicament. I can see the stress of it all in his countenance. He works hard, tries to help investors be wise, and is not one of these creeps who finagled millions in profits at the expense of others losing billions. Woe to those Money-changers. Making rules, breaking rules.

I started to get caught up in the stress of this last week, even though my livelihood and my wife's are more insulated (right now, at least) to market forces than his. He has a family. He should be stressed. There was a time not too long ago when I didn't a lot of money. I didn't worry. I had nothing to lose. Now, we do. And I worry much more. Kind of strange how that works. Who is possessing who? My possessions sound like they are possessing me more than I possess them.

All idols disappoint in the end though they glitter in our eyes at the start. Living simpler frees us from the burdens of keeping our arms around it all. God loves us too much to not allow us to experience the inevitable negativity that comes from our misplaced trust and temporal investments at the expense of eternal issues. We should thank Him that He is providing us ample opportunity to take stock now so as to not incur debts later that cannot be repaid. Grace is far too expensive to be anything but free.

Luke 12:15

And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.

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