Are You a Winner?

Have you ever asked the “lottery questions?”  

A couple of weeks back the Mega-Millions jackpot got up to over $600 million.  Can you imagine that kind of money?  We couldn’t resist, and bought a ticket...and then we asked the lottery questions.  It was fun to imagine life as a gazillionaire.  What would we do if we won all that money?  What would we change?  What would stay the same?  

We’ve all heard the stories of winners.  And asking the “what if” question is very different than having to ask the “what NOW?” question!  But it’s really not a bad exercise to ask the questions--in fact it’s actually an exercise in stewardship, isn’t it?  To ask ourselves “what would I do if I won the lottery?” is really to ask “What about my life is good--for what am I grateful?” and “Where do my priorities lie?”  So if your answer to the first question--what would you DO--is “change everything,” well that ought to tell you something.  And if the first thing you’d spend your newfound millions on is just more stuff, that will tell you something too.

So what WOULD you do?  If you suddenly had access to unlimited financial resources, what would you do?  How would your life change?  What would stay the same?

As for me and my partner Ben~Andy, well, we figured not much would change at all if we won.  Neither of us would change what we do, because we have been blessed with work that is fulfilling and helps others.  We wouldn’t buy a lot of “stuff” because we don’t want more “stuff” to worry about and because we already have WAY more “stuff” than we need.  At the end of the conversation, we realized that we were already winners.

But then, they didn’t pick our numbers.  And I wonder how our answers to the lottery question might change if they ever did…

Hey Mister!

Her voice called to me from under the eave in front of Starbucks. 

"Hey mister!  Got a cigarette?"

It had rained all night and, from the looks of things, the sidewalk had been her bed.  A cigarette?  Are you kidding me?  How about a decent meal, a hot shower, clean clothes, a place to live?  How about wholeness, healing, a life?

She wanted a cigarette.

What you want and what you need are not always the same thing, are they?

Lord, the next time I cry out in want, show me what I need.  And help me to give to others without judging them. Amen.