Beautiful sad people

My wife buys magazines that detail every aspect of the lives of the movie stars, the rich, and the famous on virtually every trip we take on a plane. Invariably I work on my laptop while she reads them cover to cover. As the plane begins to land and I have to turn off the electronics, I usually skim through them myself. One thing seems sure after reading about their miserable drug and alcohol divorce plagued suicidal lives is that far too many of the “beautiful people”, are not only rich and famous, but are saddled with unhappy lives and a miserable countenance.

So many people wish for and work for the “riches” that they perceive these people to have and yet as the old saying goes, be careful for what you wish. Consider that just maybe you do not fully appreciate what you have. You might just have great riches that far exceed what these folks have already and simply not realize it.

Material possessions are not only fleeting, but they in themselves do not bring happiness. Often just the opposite occurs. When someone receives them either by signing a huge sports contract, making a blockbuster movie or a hit record, or win the lottery and they have all of the money one could imagine, too often their lives seem to spiral downward and sooner or later they realize that money is not the source of happiness. If only people realized that true joy and peace comes exclusively from having a close personal relationship with God and He alone can fulfill and give you what you desire.

One can work a lifetime to accumulate money and material stuff, and then with the lack of a heartbeat they are gone forever. True riches are not measured by bank accounts, stock portfolios or real estate holdings; they are measured within the heart. Better to accumulate riches for eternity than for temporary treasures that will soon belong to someone else. If along the way you are blessed with material stuff in this life and are lucky enough to be able to handle them without “losing it” and succumbing to the great temptations that accompany them, wonderful. If not, it is really no big deal, soon you will be wealthier than anyone could ever imagine and will bask in the light of our Savior where eye has not seen and ear has never heard the wonderful things in store for you as a Christian.

Proverbs 13:7
There is one who makes
himself rich, yet has nothing;
And one who makes himself
poor, yet has great riches.