"The amount is HUGE!"
Someone else asked me what I'd do if I won. I was oblivious to the fact lottery fever was going around so I grumbled something stupid. "NO! No you don't understand this one is sooooo huge you can do ANYTHING if you win!"
I blew them off......... but it got me thinking.
After work I stopped at a 7 11 and purchased a ticket.
"I can't NOT get one.... not with all this excitment going on!"
My thinking was this: Winning the lottery is a miracle. I only need to buy ONE ticket. If God wants me to win, I will win. IF God does not want me to win I could buy 10 million tickets and he will not allow it to happen. I am simply wasting my money. In reality all I am doing is donating money to the Government. Do I really want to do that?
I got to thinking, I need to put a new roof on my house and my car is starting to get older. It is fine but it is rounding one of the far turns on the track. I need a new fence. I had some medical expenses that ate up a good chunk of my savings. The list goes on.
This roof thing is haunting me. I can't afford it.
Boy would I love to win the lottery…………
I've been bit by the lottery bug.
STINK!
I tormented myself with lottery dreams all night. Not only did I get a new roof in my dreams but only for the purposes of resale. I ditched my entire house moved to a different state, and went on extravagant trips bringing all my friends. I bought all these clothes that cost way too much. Oh and I gave a bunch of money to charity as well…..of course. The lottery rips the lid off of fantasy. Instead of simply buying a new roof I am a world renowned jet setter doing all this stuff I never cared about a couple of hours ago.
I of course…. didn't win.
I guess that was not my week for ridiculously extravagant miracles; however it was for someone else. Someone did win the lottery. I guess I can pray for them and rethink all my own dreams so they become a little bit more reasonable.
In my fantasy world I wanted to buy a little condo not too far from the beach in Monterey California. My Dad and his wife moved to Cali for his retirement. It is impossible to visit them now. His wife just gets so worked up over having company. She starts out very gracious and wonderful but after a few hours she deteriorates into a total stress monster. She is that persnickety aunt. Everything must seem perfect to her on a microscopic level.
My last visit she found a dot on the rug and she was reduced to tears. Really I think a visit that last only about 2hrs works, anymore and things start to fall apart. If I had my little condo by the beach I could simply drive home again just like I used to. "See ya! Sorry about the rug!" Then again California is pretty long. It could end up being an incredibly long drive.
Besides does the lottery give you the right to ditch the drama queen in the middle of one of her performances?
I suppose not.
In the real world what I did was explain to her that she does not need to replace the ENTIRE carpet, but instead simply cut the two pieces of thread off that had tar on it.
However her eagle eyes discovered tar on the tiles in the entry as well. I grabbed my Dad who was beside himself. (He is too old to deal with this now and it was him who tracked tar "throughout" the house.) We got out of there and went to the store and bought "goof-off".
She had the chance to cool off…..we escaped. The dot was eventually managed.
The lottery would not have made that day any better in the least. The solution was the same either way. Family drama will play out no matter how much money you have. In fact lots of money might make it worse actually. What if she had decided the only solution is I buy her a new carpet since it was MY DAD that ruined her rug? (Who care that they are married) A relative with money creates this sort of weird logic.
The next morning my dad decided to get the newspaper. This would require going outside. He dug his tar covered slippers out of the trash……….
Really I wanted the condo as an escape in order to write. I could just jump on a plane, run off to the beach, with my new puppy curled up next to me and effectively crawl into a cave and go off into another world.
Of course I am doing that right now. (writing)
Just leave the airplane trip and packing luggage out. Instead I am on my Deck listening to lawn mowers and birds versus at the beach listening to the wave's crash and seagulls.
The reality is it is much faster to simply walk out to the deck and set up camp than fly off to another state and set up camp…….. though it would be fun to do that.
I am not sure how much writing I would get done after spending half the day traveling.
If I won the lottery I could stay for several months!
Then again I could just transfer there. My company does have a location near there. I probably wouldn't live in Monterey specifically but I could be a reasonably short drive if I wanted to.
Arg….. I really don't want to move. What a hassle.
The reality is I could move to Monterey RIGHT NOW if I REALLY wanted to…… I just don't.
I mean I could start making a series of decisions that in the end would put me in Monterey. The question is: "Is the trade off actually worth it?" Is it worth giving everything up……. everything I have here to get the unknown that awaits me there?
Maybe I could just go there for a vacation some time.
Several years ago I was dating a guy who was an electrician. He did some work on a Movie Producers vacation home. It was a 5000sq ft one bedroom house. I kept thinking…..wow this place is really cool but my house is better I have three bedrooms. He only has one bedroom.
I looked around. "How did they use up 5000sq ft?
"What do they have that I don't?" I have a couch….They have a couch. I have a fireplace. They have a fireplace. I have an office they have one. They have a TV. I have one. The list goes on. Everything they had I had or I had access to one if I really wanted it.
I admit they had MORE & BETTER than I did. I only have ONE fireplace. They have one in every room. My fireplace has rocks around it. They had a gold plated fireplace.
I suppose if I wanted to I could buy a hunk of metal and spray paint it gold. It would pretty much LOOK the same. Do I want a GOLD fireplace? Not really, I like my rocks. The reality is I only need ONE fireplace to enjoy a fire. Having more fireplaces will not increase the enjoyment of a fire. It just creates more places a draft could develop.
They had 15 remotes.
I can't see how that would increase the enjoyment of watch TV. As it is the remotes I do have, have endless buttons I don't use or even care to figure out. Why would I want a pile of remotes with endless buttons to confuse and frustrate me? At what point does greed reverse from pleasure to giving in to a sense of drowning…..or even a compulsive hording?
They are hording remotes.
They can have them. I mean I could do that too if I wanted….collect a bunch of remotes. I am not interested.
They hadn't visited their vacation home in 2years at that point. In fact with all of that…..they had only been free to enjoy the place maybe five times. They worked insanely long hours. They have unfathomable amounts of money but work constantly so they never really seem to enjoy all they have.
I don't have tons of money but I ONLY work 40hrs……and I thoroughly enjoy what God has given me. Life is not perfect in any way but I do feel blessed none the less.
I say….……rent, stay in a hotel/motel or something. It is cheaper and a WHOLE LOT LESS STRESSFUL! Owning a vacation home….. building extra houses…… managing a household requires making decisions.....millions of decisions.
Hiring people. firing people. Everything always needs to be repaired at some point.
It requires letting other people spend your money. It requires trusting their judgment which can create sleepless nights. "Didn't I just approve a purchase of one of those? You want another one? Is this guy ripping me off?" Accusing staff you haven't seen for several years of being extravagant…..creates arguments, false accusations…..potential investigations. I am telling you it is much less stressful to check in to hotel.
The one time I did meet this bazillionare he was across a field waving at us as we drove by, he was driving a bulldozer. He was trying to figure out how to run it. His gardener was beside himself. They had rented the thing but wasn't able to find someone to drive it.
So the Producer thought it would be fun to try and bull doze the area himself. The gardener just shook his head. "He has NO CLUE!" The gardener had been assigned a task and the home owner was determined that his entire plan would happen that day even if it required him to learn a new skill. Admittedly though he looked like an eight year old playing with a big machine. He was grinning ear to ear as he diligently made a mess of his yard. I think the gardener was jealous.
He wanted to drive the bulldozer.
My thought was……he is on vacation and he is STILL working……trying to meet deadlines…..get the impossible done in an impossible time frame. Even on vacation he finds a way to "pull it off".
I was discussing the lottery with friends. Someone said "They all end up destroying their lives with drugs and alcohol!" My thought was if a person does not manage their life it deteriorates into shambles. It does not matter how much money you give them. They will still operate with the same style they always have and be destructive. The only difference will be how long it takes to complete their destruction.
A person has to decide to not live in a destructive way. The lottery will not help with that problem. Hitting bottom seems to work better then hitting the right sequence of numbers.
If a person is not afraid to work…..and work hard, they build. They build a life. They also end up giving time, energy and resources' that build others lives in the process. You reap what you sow Galatians 6:7-8. If they suddenly get a huge bunch of money out of the blue (like winning the lottery) they will build with that as well.
Another friend said "Money is a magnifying glass. It magnifies our character." If we are generous and kind, winning the lottery will only magnify that characteristic. If we live a life of laziness, self indulgence and destructive behavior winning the lottery will magnify that. It doesn't really change things. It just takes the way you are and exaggerates it.
Isn't the "lottery dream" is to be so rich we will able to quit working?
Yet so often the "rich" just continue to work and work even though they have a ton of money. Or the born rich get a job and earn their own money instead of live off of the family money. Anderson Cooper works. Paris Hilton works. Bill Gates is still working. He just switched jobs from Microsoft to running a non-profit.
Do we ever paid attention to that?
It is true that sometimes greed just drives them on. However it is also true that they for whatever reason, good or bad they enjoy working. Even if they stop earning money out right, they will quite often turn around and work at funding charities. They use their money to encourage others to work at their various dreams. They never stop building.
Do we feel obligated to spend our retirement developing others until we die or do we feel entitled?
"I earned it! I am spending it on ME!" Luke 12:48.
When you have a bunch of money the expectations on you change or should I say increase. The more you have the more people demand from you and expect. There is this assumption that rich people give and poor people get.
I think even in our meager state we are supposed to be giving a percentage of what we do have whether it is money or talent, a skill, or time, or even a compassionate heart with a listening ear. Whatever God has richly blessed us with we need to share it so others can grow as well. The nice thing about the Kingdom of God all these things have equal value in the eyes of God. Being rich spiritually is not about money. It is character. Revelations 3:17
Winning the Lottery or any other big windfall of money is just a different job or maybe another job trying to figure out how to manage it with integrity. As a Christian the expectations God will have from us on how we invest his blessing will be great and it is real. John 10:10 I believe that when Jesus talks about abundance he is talking about quality of life not greedy and opulence.
There is this thunk in my gut when I think about it………."So God are you saying that in a sense we can NEVER quit working?" Ecclesiastes 3: 22, 2:24
Even if I win the lottery. I realized EVERYTHING we do here on earth is about trying to stay alive. We need a certain amount of sleep. We need to eat. We need shelter and warmth. We need companionship.
Life is a treadmill.
If we embrace our treadmill and work as hard as we reasonably can in a way that will promote life without killing it. God will bless us……abundantly. We will find satisfaction in our work. We will be rich in God's eyes. Man may judge us or look down on us but God will be pleased with the fact I desire for quality instead of quantity.
I am actually blessed now. Life is not easy or perfect but I still see the hand of God in my life. Would I see the hand of God in the lottery? Would I miss the reality that everything would still be a gift from God? Would I try to take credit?
The rat race ends when we die. The lottery dream is in reality: heaven. When we have finished the race and fought the good fight it is then that we do not need to strive to maintain our life our existence. We will have transcended from this temporal life into eternal life. In that life we don't die therefore we do not need to work to maintain our existence. Now the work we do is because it is fun and not because "If I do not get this done........I could die!"
Lay up for yourself a savings account there and you will have a blessed eternity. Matthew 6:19
Hummmm Does this mean I do get a condo in Monterey or not?
I need to save for my roof and just forget about the condo.
Harrumph.
I need to seek the Lord and see where he leads. God is a God of miracles and he is amazingly creative. He will provide for my needs in ways I would never even think of.
Psalms 138:8
The Lord will work out his plans for my life,
For your faithful love endures forever.
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