At Least I Had $600

The boys have really gotten into playing an old Star Wars Monopoly game of mine lately.  It has helped with their math and their understanding of money (even if it is an intergalactic currency).

The other Saturday, Obadiah wanted to play a full game of it.  I was Chewbacca.  He was R2-D2.  We continued for a while in the usual measly rental payments back and forth, until I got a couple of monopolies.  I started putting out the starships (the equivalency of houses and hotels), and that’s when the pain started coming.

He landed on the North Ridge of Hoth with a star port on it.  That stay made him owe me $600.

“600?!  Whoa!  That’s a lot of money.”

“That is a lot of money.  Do you have that much?”

“Let me count…”

As he counted out the $100 bills, I expected him to give up now since the game was starting to take a bite and his cash flow was all but depleted.  As he handed me over the money, I asked if he wanted to keep playing.

“Yes sir.”

“Well, I know that had to be rough.  Paying $600 is a lot of money.”

“Yeah, well, at least I had $600.”

That, ladies and gentlemen, is called perspective.  Sure he had to pay an exorbitant amount of cash to stay in a frozen tundra filled with Tauntauns (“And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”), but at least he got to stay there.  He had enough.

I have often realized that I have also seemed to always have enough.  It may not be what I desire, it may not be all I think I need or want, but it is enough.  I have food and covering, and so I am learning to be content (1 Tim. 6:8). I have known times of plenty and times of want (Phil. 4:12).  I have never been financially forsaken (Ps. 37:25).  My needs have always been supplied (Phil. 4:19).

In fact, whenever I see the extra monetary blessing come my way, I almost always start looking at what is about to break.  Instead of spending it on something I want, what I need is provided.

And yet, even in that provision, if I honestly look at what I have, it is always an abundance.  And yet my life can’t be wrapped up in possessions (Luke 12:15).

But it still hurts having those unexpected costs.

Things in this life break and need repair.  People get sick and bills are delivered.  Unexpected expenses become expected.

Paying $600 here and there gets discouraging some times.

But at least I had $600.