{"id":14351,"date":"2018-01-19T10:31:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T15:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=14351"},"modified":"2018-01-19T10:33:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T15:33:24","slug":"no-money-in-heaven-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/no-money-in-heaven-2\/","title":{"rendered":"No Money In Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

No Money In Heaven<\/h1>\n

\u201cA hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be a better place, because I was important in the life of a child.\u201d (changed from the original quotation from \u201cWithin My Power\u201d by Forest E. Witcraft)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My birthday was just about 6 months ago… that makes me a half a year older than I was on my birthday. There already wasn’t any room for all the candles on the cake – not that I can even eat cake anymore. Well… I shouldn’t eat it “they” say.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not much one to celebrate my own birthday. It never seemed like much of a cause for celebration \u2013 at least not since I was eighteen. And, I suppose at 18 there are many good reasons to celebrate: you have an entire lifetime in front of you and your entire childhood behind you \u2013 but not very far behind you.<\/p>\n

And, by law, in most places, when you turn eighteen, you are an adult. So, while my eighteenth birthday is more than a bit blurry in retrospect, I probably did celebrate it with a lot of youthful \u201centhusiasm\u201d. But, I can\u2019t remember ever being really excited about any birthday I\u2019ve had since then.<\/p>\n

The older we get the less birthdays we have to look forward to, I guess. When you\u2019re younger this doesn\u2019t seem to be a factor, but as we age, birthdays become more of a time for reflection than celebration. At least in my life they are.<\/p>\n

This past year as my birthday approached I started thinking about my life and things I\u2019ve accomplished and things I wish I wouldn\u2019t have done. Oh yes, there are many things I shouldn\u2019t have done and looking back on them makes me feel foolish. I like to think I have no regrets, but I probably do. I\u2019ve always thought that regrets, like worries, are useless things. They are like anchors on boats. If you\u2019re dragging an anchor around all the time, you\u2019re going to have a difficult and arduous journey. You have to hoist the anchor and put it where it belongs. You\u2019ll never reach your goals or dream exciting dreams if you\u2019re dragging an anchor around. You cannot reach goals or accomplish great things if you\u2019re carrying around a bunch of regrets and worries with you.<\/p>\n

One of the things I thought about, as my birthday approached, was how much money I should have (and could have) put away during my life and didn\u2019t. I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m sort of the guy who marches to a different drummer anyway; and money to me is just a \u201cthing\u201d. I\u2019ve always believed that things can be easily replaced. Therefore, money never had great value to me. Things that can\u2019t be replaced have always been my most treasured possessions.<\/p>\n

Still, I do have my little daydreams: I\u2019ve often dreamed, like most people do, of winning a big lottery and becoming an instant multi-millionaire. The older I get though, the more I think I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do with ten or twenty million dollars. At this point in time, millions of dollars wouldn\u2019t change my life much. I never much cared for fancy cars, I\u2019ve had my one and only experience with boats, I wouldn\u2019t quit the work I do because I enjoy it, and I don\u2019t have many things I can think of that I really need or really want. I guess winning $10 million would be more of a burden than a blessing. I suppose fighting off the stock brokers, real estate agents, salesman, insurance companies, and all the other people who seem to have a higher regard for wealth than I do would irritate me and I\u2019ve have to hide from them. That wouldn\u2019t be fun at all. If I won the lottery I\u2019d probably make sure my children were provided for and give the rest to charity. Or would I? I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever have to make these decisions and that\u2019s a good thing. I might be somehow and forever changed by the money. And that\u2019s a bad thing, I think.<\/p>\n

My nonchalant attitude toward money means that I have not put much away for that proverbial \u201crainy day\u201d. I don\u2019t have a big retirement account. I don\u2019t have gold stashed. I don\u2019t have much in the way of any kind of portfolio. I don\u2019t have large real estate holdings. So, I guess I\u2019m a bigger fool than even I think I am. I\u2019m sure many would think so.<\/p>\n

But\u2026looking a head a little:<\/p>\n

Sometimes I think about myself spending my final years in some cheap, smelly nursing home and yes that sort of bothers me a little. My rationalizing, however, insulates me. I think that when that day comes, I won\u2019t remember much of anything \u2013 like for instance who I am. Life seems to make adjustments and allowances for things like that. My grandma always told me that \u201cthe Lord never gives us a burden larger than we can bear\u201d. I sure hope she was right. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

I guess I haven\u2019t done a lot of things I should have done in my life. But, the other day it occurred to me that there\u2019s no money in heaven. And, no, I\u2019m certainly not sure I\u2019m going to heaven, but still I\u2019m just as certain that they don\u2019t use money in the other place, either. So, wherever I go (and I hope it\u2019s heaven) one thing I know: I won\u2019t need any money. It\u2019s an all-expenses-pre-paid eternal journey \u2013 no money required. Ever. No money down – no money due — forever and ever.\u00a0 And that’s true no matter which direction you\u2019re headed.<\/p>\n

I will admit – I haven\u2019t put much aside for the future. At least not in the way of material things. But let me tell you what happened on my birthday this year that taught me that perhaps I\u2019ve put aside something much more important than money. Maybe, I\u2019ve done a few things right in this up-and-down life of mine. At least, I like think I have.<\/p>\n

The best birthday present I\u2019ve ever received was the one I received about 10 years ago. It wasn\u2019t wrapped in a fancy package \u2013 but it was a surprise. My youngest son, who at the time was a graduate student at a university about four hours away from me, came home just for my birthday. Not only did he come home for my birthday but spent the entire day with me. He came home just for my birthday and he hung arond with his old man all day.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really the nicest part about this present is that it was given by a then twenty-five year-old young man. At twenty-five (if you remember) there are always about a gazillion things you could be and want to be doing. And most likely driving four hours and spending the entire day with your father, on his birthday, is not one of them. Yet, my son, not only spent the entire day with me, he drove four hours one way to do it. And then had to drive four more hours just to go back to work\/school the next day. So this gift means a great deal to me. It will always be a precious memory. The greatest birthday present ever.<\/p>\n

And it had nothing to with money. Money isn’t worth much really – is it?<\/p>\n

My son believes in giving “experiences” for Christmas and birthday. Experiences make memories and memories never wear out or rust or break.\u00a0 I can have that special gift anytime I want just by remembering a day in my life when my son thought enough of me to go way out of his way to give me a birthday present I will never forget \u2013 as long as I live.<\/p>\n

And maybe even longer than that.<\/p>\n

And, I have another son, who has his own business, and for those of you who\u2019ve done that, you know it\u2019s not easy. He works many fourteen and sixteen hour days \u2013 sometimes seven days a week. He\u2019s giving it all he\u2019s got to make his business successful. Yet, he too, took time to visit me on my birthday and took several hours out of his busy day. He comes every week to see me and we argue over who will pay for lunch.<\/p>\n

I am blessed and very rich, aren’t I.<\/p>\n

Now nearly six months have passed since my birthday and I\u2019ve had a chance to reflect a little more on this process of growing older and (I hope) wiser. My bank account hasn\u2019t grown much – hasn’t grown at all actually. My \u201cportfolio\u201d is still non-existent. I haven\u2019t invested much money. Some people might call me a fool. Others, I\u2019m sure, think I\u2019m a loser.<\/p>\n

But I’m not a loser –\u00a0I am a rich and lucky man. Money or no money. You can have have millions of dollars and be a loser just look around and you’ll see what I mean.<\/p>\n

My investments have been well made; the dividends are priceless. I haven\u2019t stashed away huge sums of cash; I don\u2019t have stockpiles of gold and diamonds; I don\u2019t have a binder full of stocks and bonds; I don\u2019t have much in the way of money or any kind of material wealth; but I am a very wealthy man nonetheless.<\/p>\n

The investments I made when my children were young are yielding dividends far beyond anything I could have imagined. I didn\u2019t invest a lot of money, but I did invest a great deal of time. And, I spent a lot of time with both of children, not because of any self-perceived fatherly obligation; I spent time with them because I really wanted to. I enjoyed every minute of it.<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re grown and I miss the school plays, Christmas concerts, spring concerts, the Little League ballgames. I miss watching movies with them on weekends. I even miss watching their favorite TV shows with them even though most of their \u201cfavorite\u201d shows weren\u2019t exactly my cup of tea. I miss putting them to bed and kissing them good night. I miss long, lazy weekend mornings when we\u2019d just sit at the table and talk. In short I miss the time we spent together.<\/p>\n

So, the world may look at me and see me as just as just another average guy. No fancy cars, no fancy boats, no jet-setting off to Casablanca for the weekend. No, I haven\u2019t accumulated much in the way of worldly goods. That\u2019s for sure. But, I have more than many billionaires. And, I certainly wouldn\u2019t trade my fortune for theirs.<\/p>\n

I hope that those of you with children or grandchildren are investing wisely. While it might be nice to have a stockpile of valuable things, the most valuable things are also the most intangible things. There is no greater return on your investment than the return you get from a child in whom you\u2019ve invested your time. You\u2019ll get back far more than you bargained for; and far more than you ever dreamed. You\u2019ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams even if you don\u2019t have a penny to your name.<\/p>\n

Where your treasure lies there will be your heart also.<\/p>\n

And I am absolutely certain that there is no money in heaven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No Money In Heaven \u201cA hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be a better place, because I was important in the life of a child.\u201d (changed from the original quotation from \u201cWithin My\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[1720],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14353,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14351\/revisions\/14353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}