Wealth

This is taken from a larger article written by a kid that graduated from CLASS (A Homeschool Academy that we use for Paige's curriculum.) I am just copying in the paragraph(s) about wealth from her speech.

Something Small – Wealth

Demographers and attorneys tell us that something dramatic is now happening to the baby-boomer generation, which is now past fifty years of age. They are now in the process of inheriting more than $10.4 trillion as their parents pass from the scene. It is the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Probably some of you are wishing that you were more a part of this greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world.From the standpoint of material wealth, we sometimes have difficulty in realizing how rich we are as Americans. Perhaps more of us should go through a little mental exercise, suggested by Robert Heilbroner, to help us to count our blessings. Imagine doing the following, and you will see how daily life is for as many as a billion people in the world.

Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blanket and pads for beds.Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.Take away the house itself and move the family into the toolshed.Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops, of which one third will go to the landlord and one tenth to the money lenders.

My second challenge this morning is not for you to try to be poor like so many in the world; but rather to count your blessings, and, most importantly, to realize that what you give up for the sake of Christ and His kingdom is truly small in comparison to what you will receive.

The Gospel of Mark, Chapter ten, is on point here:
Mark 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” 28 Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” 29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”