Blog 2022 – 04.08.2021

Meet Samantha 1904, Chapter 5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JICEbVO6iFWstFGct9xKmuEJFyS2JHij/view?usp=drivesdk

Meet Samantha 1904, Chapter 5

In today’s chapter, Samantha shares her beautiful new doll with her new friend Nellie and at first she wonders if bringing the doll to their secret rendezvous was a mistake for Nellie had never had even a simple doll of her own let alone such an expensive one. This story reminds me of the New Testament story of the young rich ruler who came to Jesus asking. “What must I do to inherit the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus immediately recognized the young man’s misplaced faith and said, “Go and sell all you have and give the proceeds to the poor and come and follow me.” The young man went away sorrowfully and Jesus further remarked, “How hardly shall they that trust in riches enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Today, I have selected a song that my daughter Emily sent me on the last of her famous Father’s Day mixed CD’s. This Indigo Girls song was a great comfort to me when Emily left us just less than a year later. I played it over and over till I committed the tune and words to memory and then some years later I made this cover song of it. It is about our being better off for all that we let in, but I believe it is equally true that we are also better off for all that we allow ourselves to let go.

It was said of the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Alexander Hamilton, that millions of dollars passed through his hands and that not a penny stuck. This is said to signify how honestly and above board he did his job but it also illustrates, I think, the proper way to handle treasure of any kind, with a light touch being as prepared to let it go as to receive more.

Our trust should be in our loving and infinite source, the giver, and not the gifts for they are as Samantha’s doll to be shared. Empty hands are required to receive bigger and better gifts. The truly rich always have more than enough to share. We show how poor we think ourselves to be when we cannot let go of anything especially those things we hold onto the hardest.

Jesus told a parable that my New Testament Survey professor, Doctor Nelson Trick, called “The Barn Loser” in which a rich farmer got the bright idea of tearing down his barn so he could build a bigger one in its place to hold all the grain from his planned bumper crops. In all his planning he forgot his true source and so before he was taken in his sleep he heard the most fearful words a hoarder could ever hear, “Now whose will all these things be.” Fearing such a loss cost the young rich ruler the kingdom of heaven and a chance to walk with Jesus.

Someone has said, “”Everything I gave away I still possess. Only those things I tried too hard to hold onto have I lost.” Way to go, Sam. Thank you for a lesson in sharing.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S_ysLH4hPufXxXOCAbSc9McY3_O0fqmQ/view?usp=drivesdk

All That We Let In