The Haves and the Have Nots

I have known a lot of rich people and I am sure they are some ridiculously rich people currently around me whose value I just don't realise. But there are a few specific rich people that have taught me a couple of things.

1. Money doesn't make you happy.
My mom had been telling me for years, the Bible told me, we've discussed it at Bible study, tons of movies had already told me, but it's not until really knowing someone who has the kind of money that I might be tempted to kill for. And knowing this person and their family rather intimately. And seeing just how unhappy they were and realising that they would trade their lives for my life in a heart beat.
I mean I knew money doesn't make you happy but I was pretty sure that it wouldn't make you UNhappy. But it turns out sometimes people are blinded by their money. and fail to see those closest to them. And they resort to their money as a way of communicating love and of solving problems, and for some it just takes so much darn effort to keep and continue making money that money ends up being all their life is about.
And in this intimate association with unhappy rich people I discovered what I already knew, money does not make you happy, it may in fact rob you of your joy.


2. I had an amazing friend, she was beautiful, we used to get in trouble a LOT for laughing in the class. The problem being I like sitting in the front, so we would sit in the front and laugh and when she got started she was ridiculous. she would snort and bellow, it was hilarious, which of course made me laugh more. FYI, thinking about her has reminded me to check how she is. But this friend was amazing, and she would come to my house and eat whatever my mom cooked and watch Disney movies (we were in high school), and only later in our friendship did I discover that her family was really rich. It wasn't a factor before I knew it and it had absolutely no effect after I discovered it.
*Some rich people are people first and rich second.

3. This third friend, well this third friend, was rich and I knew it from the first time I met her. And I also knew she felt I wasn't as rich as her (this was technically true), but I don't appreciate being made aware of it in every encounter. And it was interesting because I KNOW she was doing it out of love. Things like, 'We could go out...oh well maybe we can just stay in tonight' And you know the pause is to reflect upon the fact that you probably can't afford it. And for her she was concerned not about her wealth but at what appeared to be my lack there of.

A bonus lesson I learned: Because I am poor, I think about money a lot, what it would be like to have money and to not budget obsessively, etc.
But I have an amazing mother and this is something i don't really think about. And I met someone who had a bad relationship with her mother so that when I casually mentioned my mother doing something annoying/loving (like sending me underwear in the mail...yes she did!), this friend is actually yearning for such an obnoxiously loving mother.
*Everyone is rich in certain areas, and poor in others. Be careful not to rub your wealth in other people's faces, if possible share it, and be a part of building their wealth of friendships.

Just been reminded recently to be aware of all that God has blessed me with and even though I describe myself as poor, I have always had enough. And a few times God has provided me with enough exactly when it was needed, in amazing and miraculous ways. He has always been by my side and with Him, I have MORE than enough.