Less is more...

"Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."
Luke 12:15

It's difficult to explain to people, in this day and age, that I value wealth less and less as I get older. I tried to explain to the lady who handles my retirement account that I'm not interested in how much bigger it can grow. In fact, I told her, I want out of the market and just leave the bit that's in there. I'm trying to learn the lesson from our Gospel today (Luke 12:13-21) NOT to build bigger barns to store my wealth. My wealth can't be stored in a barn anyway! My wealth is my family and dear ones with whom I have shared time on this planet. My wealth also includes the visually impaired clients I grew to know and love through my career and the wee little "clients" I serve in my school job now. This is a lesson I haven't completely learned, mind you, but I'm in the process of learning. It's completely upside down from what I grew up believing. More is not better. More is just more and with more, there's more work. More to worry about, more to protect and keep track of...more to distract us from what's really important. Like I said, it's a work in progress, but this Gospel today brings it home. It's all about our relationships, with God, with loved ones, with strangers, with our fellow travelers on the journey. The more stuff we are carrying, the less able we are to reach out to others. Love, heidi