Money Wings

The tree looks like it has a head hanging down with arms stretched heavenward.

 The young tree had a yearning to be recognized and feel valuable.  She grew for many years through storms and weathered countless seasons of defoliation. Some of her branches were lost in wind and rain storms. Winters were particularly harsh. Her roots wouldn't grow in the frozen earth below. The weight of the snow on her branches

The cold snow seems to grow on the tree.

ripped limbs from her trunk. As a sapling, she had struggled to find sunlight in the shade of the adult trees towering overhead. As she matured, her roots grew deeper and her uppermost boughs grew heavenward. With each passing season, the young tree knew deep in her core that she was valuable. In the summer, her leaves seem to clap in the warm breezes as if to cheer her on to grow stronger.

 

Alas, the seasons passed and then came her final Fall, the tree was standing leafless after being deleafed in the Autumnal Passing. There were men with machines in the forest. The loud noises scattered the forest creatures and sent soil shivers of fear into the roots of the trees. A man walked up to the tree and stared up at her strong trunk and lofty barren branches. He smiled and said: "This tree will sure make a whole lot of money. This is probably the most valuable tree in the forest!" The tree was elated, someone finally recognized her value! This was her season of relief from a life of constant deleafing and releafing! Then she heard the man say: "Let's cut her down!"

A Jesus Tree?

The next thing the tree knew, she was in pieces and being loaded onto a logging truck. Her beautiful branches had been pruned away and discarded. She could smell diesel fumes as the truck rumbled out of the forest, her sap was draining unto the trailer floor beneath her. At the factory, she heard men talk about how valuable this load of trees would be after the process. The tree sighed, she wanted to be valuable but did she have to change this much? The logs were unloaded on to a conveyor belt where they would be debarked. The tree felt very exposed. After the debarking, the logs were then cut into small chips. The tree felt very small and insignificant. The chips were then stored until they were dried, their lifeblood of sap no longer flowed within them. The tree's life had gone to pieces. She was a dried up shred of her former self.

 

The tree was washed, bleached, beaten to a pulp, refined, screened, pressed and more. This would eventually become the most valuable of all trees, this tree would become money! The tree was now only a miniscule remnant of what she once was, but she was valuable. She thought her value would cause people to grasp her and recognize her importance. Everyone wanted her but few held her for long. She noticed how folks would labor long hours just to hold her briefly. Then they would exchange her for  meaningless trinkets of  pithy pleasure. The tree knew they might as well be chasing after the wind.She remembered the beautiful songbirds who used to land in her branches. They would alight for a song and then be aloft with wings in the wind and fly away. The tree thought maybe she should have wings, yes money wings! She was here one moment and gone the next. 

Money is a good thing. It's just not the most important thing. If you chase money at the expense of your family, you might end up with all the money and without a family.

 Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 23:4-5

 Proverbs 23:4-5

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 8

⁴ Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
    do not trust your own cleverness.
⁵ Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
    for they will surely sprout wings
    and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Proverbs 23:4-5

The Message (MSG)

^4-5 Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
    restrain yourself!
Riches disappear in the blink of an eye;
    wealth sprouts wings
    and flies off into the wild blue yonder.

Proverbs 23:4-5

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁴ Weary not yourself to be rich; cease from your own [human] wisdom.

⁵ Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

Proverbs 23:4-5

King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

I find it interesting that we make money out of trees that grow roots and the Bible says that:

^"For the love of money is the root of all evil:
 which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, 
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

1 Timothy 6:10 King James Version (KJV)

It's all about focus. 

What should be your primary focus?

 

^"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
 and all these things shall be added unto you."

Matthew 6:33 King James Version (KJV)

Relax, focus on God and your family.

 You do need to make money and sometimes you will struggle,

 so be it.

How can you spend more meaningful time with your family?

If you are a coach for your child's team, this does not count as family time. 

Your child needs one on one time with you.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.