Lost Money

Last weekend, I attended a local festival as a volunteer, but I also got to wander around and spend a little money. When I got to the festival, I realized I had only $30 in my wallet and had forgotten to bring any credit cards, so would have to spend wisely. I put the money in my pocket so it would be easily accessible and went about my day. 

I bought a few food items for a total of $15 and still had $15 to blow but didn’t see anything else I needed or wanted and was relieved that I was able to get by with so little money. After enjoying a great concert from a local group called Chatham Rabbits (if you haven’t seen them, check out their website), we ended our day and packed up, heading home. 

When I got home, I realized that the extra $15 had fallen out of my pocket. My first thought was, I hope someone who really could use that money found it. There have been many years when an extra $15 would have made a huge difference in my budget. Chris and I lived much of our child-rearing lives on one salary and we knew how to pinch a penny for sure. 

And not to sound too old, but back in the day, $15 was a substantial amount of money to me and my family. Both inflation and a comfortable retirement have reduced the value of that $15 that slipped from my pocket. I can certainly live without it, but I still know what it means to have a windfall, large or small. I had a feeling of relief when I realized that money meant so little to me and again, I hoped that someone who can really use it will benefit from my carelessness. But it also made me think of all those folks to whom $15 is a substantial amount of money. Families living on one paycheck; folks whose rent has increased beyond pay raises; those who are struggling to put food on the table with higher food and gas costs. All these folks are where I was 30 years ago and my heart goes out to them. The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. And the greed of the rich in our country right now is certainly looking like evil in large and small ways. I am grateful that I have enough money but will be looking for more ways to spread it around, since just letting it fall out of my pocket is an inefficient way to share the wealth. I hope each of you reading this has enough money that you are comfortable sharing some and I pray for those who don’t, as well as for those who have too much and don’t want to share.