Silver Linings

I've just finished listening to a book on tape I got from my local library - "Overcoming Life's Disappointments" by Harold Kushner. I've long respected Rabbi Kushner's work - going back to his early book "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People." There were several nuggets, little slips of true and powerful principles in this book that will stay with me for some time. However, the one that really hit home had to do with glass & mirror.

A man was asked to look out a window and tell what it was that he saw. The man responded "I see people." He then was asked to look in a mirror and again report what he saw. "I see myself" was the obvious answer.

"Isn't that interesting?" his companion asked him. Both the window and the mirror are made of glass. However, the mirror has a thin coating of silver on it which obscures your ability to see out to others, making it so you can only see the reflection of yourself. How often is it that when we get a little silver we stop being able to see outside ourselves to others needs, feelings, and concerns and become caught up only with ourselves?

I've given some thought to the relationship between material abundance (getting some silver) and spiritual progression (how we see the world and ourselves.)

I do not believe that poverty is more spiritually honorable than abundance. I don't think that having nice things or a fat bank account is a sin. However, I have seen plenty of examples (both in scripture and in my own observations of the world) of people who allowed lust for money or the things it could provide to cloud their perspective and destroy their focus on the sacred.

In Matt. 6: 19-21 it says:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I don't think this scripture means God is telling us it is bad or wrong to have a nice house or to discourage us from preparing for the future through 401K or other sound investing. But I DO think He is making very clear where our focus should be.

I think it is just as wrong to covet OUR OWN possessions as those of others. I believe I need to acknowledge that ALL THINGS with which the Lord has blessed me are mine only in stewardship. I have the opportunity and the responsibility to help others with my means and I need to make sure what my heart truly treasures is NOT the shiny things of this world, but the shining truths of eternity.

Easy to say - hard to do sometimes.

Each person must decide for himself/herself how much of their time, money, or other resources to give to lift others. How much is enough?

I routinely give 10% of my gross income in "tithing", but I do not consider that a donation at all. That's just giving back to God what was His in the first place. What I wrestle with is AFTER the 10%.... the stuff left over that feels like MINE. How much of that am I willing to share? What is my moral duty? What would I be willing to sacrifice or do without in order to help someone with less?

When does my longing for what's comfortable, convenient or pretty win out over what someone else may truly need? When does my silver cause me to look only at my own reflection rather than out at others?

I will continue to wrestle with that question, I suspect, prayerfully pondering and never really being sure what the best answer is.

I worked for a while as executive director of a non-profit emergency social service agency where I managed a foodbank and made arrangements for homeless shelter among other things. Day in and day out my work was all about helping those who were down and out. Through that experience I really did come to know that no matter how much we help, there will ALWAYS be more need that we can fill. So at what point can we consider our efforts "enough"? When is it okay to relax and enjoy what I have earned?

Is it morally ok to spend money on frivolous things like cable TV when I know there are people going hungry? On the one hand, no matter how much I give, there will still be people who lack. It doesn't really make sense to impoverish myself to help others. But should I get seconds and thirds and fourths of extra stuff (fancy vacations, eating in nice resturaunts, pricy new toys) when there are people who have not had their basic needs met?

As King Benjamin taught: "...I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants. And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength..." (Mosiah 4:26-27)

Clearly, there are no easy answers of how much is enough. We each ponder and pray and find the level that feels right for our family. I'd say that if our giving doesn't pinch some, require some level of sacrifice it's not enough. But how big that sacrifice should be... every person has to decide that for themself.