Thursday, November 22, 2007

Rich Yet Poor

An Arab, losing his way in the desert, was in danger of dying from hunger. At last he found one of the cisterns out of which the camels drink and a little leather bag near it. "God be thanked!" exclaimed he. "Ah, here are some dates or nuts; let me refresh myself." He opened the bag, but only to turn away in disappointment. Alas, they were only pearls, and what good were they to a man who was dying of hunger?

Was this man rich or poor? He was rich yet poor.

(Source: e-Sword Bible Illustration)

"The amount of money you have has got nothing to do with what you earn.. people earning a million dollars a year can have no money and.. People earning $35,000 a year can be quite well off. It's not what you earn, it's what you spend." - Paul Clitheroe

"Becoming wealthy is not a matter of how much you earn, who your parents are, or what you do.. it is a matter of managing your money properly". - Noel Whittaker

Indeed, there are people so poor that the only thing they have is money. May we learn to live richly instead of die with riches!

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15 comments:

mr fong said...

Sam, it's for my students who got their results today. Thank God for everything... Actually, PSLE result receiving was in my previous post, but u thought i was disappointed with the results :-)

Thanks for your support... I will be back tmrw to comment on this, I really cannot read your posts without a clear mind, for I try to get what I can out of it... Good night :)

Jennifer Jones said...

Ohhh VERY nice Sam!

Yesterday I was driving through some countryside where the land was quite beautiful and very expensive... however the people who owned it, while rich due it the amount of land they owned, lived very frugally because they had no money, just land.

Rich, yet poor!

Nice Sam!

Jen

mr fong said...

I can see 2 issues here...The 1st issue is that we have to manage money properly.

On the other hand, the 2nd issue is that money is impt for survival, but putting it as our focus in life means alienation from god. Indeed, such people with the mindset are so rich that they are poor.

Tawnya Shields said...

Awesome post,Sam. I wrote a post that kidn of goes along the lines of conscious giving. That we can give of ourselves this holiday season instead of mindlessly spending money on many presents that soon will be forgotten. I think you would enjoy my message.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Tawnya

surjit singh said...

Hi Sam,
I fully agree with your noble thoughts:
...'May we learn to live richly..'
Amassing money or wordly riches is not every thing in life.One must have richness of the heart filled with compassion,love, forgiveness.
Thanks for sharing another wonderful post.
God bless.

WaterLearner said...

The most precious things in life (at least to me) can't be bought by money or can't be affected by how much one earns.

The quality of one's relationships with family and love ones. Health (to a certain extent). Love. Peace of mind. Friendship .. among many others.

ericat said...

I was pointed by ewa as meme tag "victim" and you are one of my "victims" - please go to look at my blog for the
details

Sam Chan said...

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for sharing your experience.

May we be rich with all sort of goodness and virtues.

Blessings to you, my dear friend.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Winston,

That's true! Although money is a necessary. One mustn't let it become our master. There are many other things that we need to be rich especially spiritual well-being. We reap what we sow. God will bless us if we put in our effort and do a good job.

Blessing to you, Winston.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Tawnya,

Conscious giving... That's indeed a great idea! One don't need to spend money unnecessary. I will check out your message after this.

Blessing to you, Tawnya.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Surjit,

Thanks for sharing your insightful views. Indeed, one must have richness of the heart filled with compassion, love, forgiveness, etc.

Let's dwell richly in all other aspect of life instead of just material things.

Blessing to you, Surjit.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Karen,

I totally agree with you that the most precious things in life cannot be bought by money.

Thanks for sharing what you value most in life. Those are indeed more precious than all the money we can have!

Blessings to you, my dear friend.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Ericat,

Thanks for the tag. I will check it out soon.

Blessings.

Frieda said...

this is a good one!

Sam Chan said...

Thanks Frieda, for your nice words. I am glad that you liked this post.

Best wishes.