{"id":1661,"date":"2022-05-23T08:11:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T12:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2022-05-23T08:11:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T12:11:49","slug":"the-richness-of-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/23\/the-richness-of-being\/","title":{"rendered":"The Richness of Being"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Year after year Stumpy and Martha attended the fair in their home state, and every summer it was the same story.
\u00a0
Stumpy was tantalized by the old-fashioned biplane in which anybody could take a ride for ten dollars, and Martha was disgusted by such an obvious waste of money.
\u00a0
\u201cTen dollars is ten dollars,\u201d she would always say.\u00a0 And Stumpy would go home without his airplane ride.
\u00a0
One year Stumpy said, \u201cMartha, there\u2019s that biplane.\u00a0 Now, I am 81 years old and this year I want to go for a ride.\u201d\u00a0 Martha bristled, \u201cThere you go again.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you realize that ten dollars is ten dollars?\u201d
\u00a0
At this point the man who owned the biplane, and who had heard this conversation as far back as he could remember, intervened. \u201cListen, you two, I\u2019ll make you a deal.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give you both a ride for free<\/em> if you promise not to say anything during the flight.\u00a0 If you speak even one word, I\u2019ll charge you the ten dollars.\u201d\u00a0 Stumpy and Martha thought that sounded fair, and off they went.
\u00a0
The pilot put on quite a show.\u00a0 He took his plane through banks and spins and loop-the-loops, and then did the whole thing over again.\u00a0 Amazingly, he never heard a single word.
\u00a0
When the plane landed he looked back at Stumpy and said, \u201cI\u2019ll have to admit I\u2019m impressed.\u00a0 You never spoke once.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cWell,\u201d said Stumpy, \u201cI was going to say something when Martha fell out of the plane, but ten dollars is ten dollars.\u201d
\u00a0
If there\u2019s one thing that Americans understand, it\u2019s the value of money.\u00a0 If there\u2019s one thing that those in our culture fundamentally misunderstand, it\u2019s the value of relationships.
\u00a0
What are the best things in life?\u00a0
\u00a0
The best things in life<\/em> are not things.<\/em>
\u00a0
In our heart of hearts, we all know that to be true.\u00a0 We yearn for the richness of being<\/em>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it\u2019s widely assumed that the quickest pathway to the richness of being is the richness of having<\/em>.\u00a0
\u00a0
The answer posed by the name of the popular game show \u2013 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?<\/em> \u2013 is fairly obvious.\u00a0 Almost everyone does.\u00a0
\u00a0
Of course, a million dollars isn\u2019t what it used to be.\u00a0 According to the Schwab 2021 Modern Wealth Survey, the threshold for being thought \u201cwealthy\u201d in the United States is having a net worth of $1.9 million.\u00a0 According to the breathless advertisements that bombard us every hour, that kind of money should offer us the freedom<\/em> to retire early.\u00a0 And the adventure<\/em> of that incredible trip to Italy you\u2019ve always wanted to take.\u00a0 And the joy<\/em> of renovating your house just like the ones on HGTV.\u00a0
\u00a0
Money makes extraordinary promises.\u00a0 But in the long run, money can\u2019t keep any of them.\u00a0 That\u2019s because freedom, adventure, and joy aren\u2019t for sale.\u00a0 They never have been, and never will be.\u00a0
\u00a0
What money cannot buy, however, God gives for free.
\u00a0
The richness of the life you\u2019ve always wanted won\u2019t cost you a million dollars.\u00a0 Or even ten dollars.\u00a0
\u00a0
The greatest treasure in the world is knowing that you\u2019re the deeply-loved child of a God who will never let you go – all because of the price that He<\/em> paid.\u00a0 \u00a0

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Year after year Stumpy and Martha attended the fair in their home state, and every summer it was the same story.\u00a0Stumpy was tantalized by the old-fashioned biplane in which anybody could take a ride for ten dollars, and Martha was disgusted by such an obvious waste of money.\u00a0\u201cTen dollars is ten dollars,\u201d she would always say.\u00a0 And Stumpy would go… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[444,184],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-materialism","tag-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1663,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions\/1663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}