Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Giving as a Way of Curing the Down Turn Blues

For two weeks the bottom has fallen out of the stock market. Yesterday was the 600+ Dow Jones drop day. My retirement portfolio took a real hit. So in the midst of it all I shut off the TV and went for a ride – saw a beautiful rainbow and listened to some crashing waves – I reside on Cape Cod in the summer. Started to feel somewhat better because I realized God is paying me dividends everyday – if I stop and just be in the moment.
On the way home I stopped for an ice-coffee! I was asked if I wanted to donate to the Jimmy Fund – Dana Faber Cancer Center. It is not a good thing for children to have to do battle with cancer. So, out of my diminishing assets I made a donation. When I arrived home I found Gretchen making a nice donation to one of her favorite causes. There go more of the assets. As I watched the evening news I became heart-sick at the situation in Somalia – 12 million people fighting starvation. So I decided to make a generous donation to the UCC hunger relief fund. There went more of my diminished assets. Yet, somehow I felt better again – sort of a feeling of well-being that was spiritually based, not temporally based. And today I turned on the TV about mid-day and the market was up! If the market stays solid today I will have gained more in my retirement account than was given away to help others in much greater need than I. Call it the beginning of a little bull in the market or a lot of God in my life. Singing the down turn blues; try standing in the moment for a moment and giving so others might know at least a little of God’s abundant love. There is never a down turn in that!

1 comment:

Lynda said...

My grandmother, who lived on the edge of poverty (no such thing as medicare, pensions, 401K's, etc.) always faithfully tithed to her church. She said she never missed that money. Her message resonates with yours - both valuable insights.